News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cummins Falls State Park has partnered with Putnam’s Mustard Seed Ranch to create a gift program for public participation.
The ranch houses children coming from unstable homes. Park Ranger Ashley Clark said 15 of those kids’ Christmas lists are hanging on a gingerbread themed tree waiting on you to fulfill.
“Stop by Cummins Falls and just pick a gingerbread,” Clark said. “We have little paper gingerbreads at our tree here with the child on the front and their age and the gifts on the back. You can either do that or call the park, and we can pick one out for you.”
Clark said the park created the idea years ago but did not have a facility to operate the program. Now, the newly opened visitor center houses the tree in the gift shop.
“Now, we have a great place for people to bring these gifts in and for us to get those to the Mustard Seed Ranch,” Clark said. “They are an organization just right down the road from us, so we thought it would be a great idea to give back to our community here super local. We thought it would be great ti invite the rest of the community to help with this.”
Each child was asked to create a list of wants, needs and gift cards. Clark said each category is separated to allow more people to participate.
“A lot of the wants, especially in the boys homes, looks like they have all partnered up and decided to ask for fishing supplies,” Clark said. “So some or fishing lures, tackle and some camp chairs. Stuff like that. That would be a want. Most of the needs are socks or clothing items. Some school items are in there like stationery type things.”
Children from seven to 17 are included on the tree. Clark said participants have until the end of November to pick a child and return the gifts unwrapped.
“The biggest thing we need to emphasize is that we do need to get these gifts back to the Mustard Seed Ranch by the first week in December,” Clark said. “We are kind of on a time crunch to get those gifts back.”
