The Ames Police Department, in cooperation with city employees and two local bike shops, is getting into the gift-giving spirit a little early this year.

The spirit comes from the creation of the Angel Tree Program, which was designed to help those less fortunate during the holiday season.

Through the program, created by Diane Leeper of Equipment Services for the city, the Police Department gathers names and a wish list to determine what presents should be bought.

“The great thing about this program is that we cater to the whole family, not just the children,” said Rory Echer, community resource officer with the APD.

After Echer receives a list of the qualified families from the Boys & Girls Club of Ames and Family Planning and Housing, he places each of their names on the back of an angel and hangs it on a Christmas tree on the main floor of City Hall.

“City employees and police officers take the angel off of the tree, and it is their responsibility to buy that person gifts with [his or her] own money,” he said. “They bring the wrapped gift back to the City Hall Print Shop by Dec. 13 with the letter and number of the angel on it.”

All of the gifts will be distributed to the families’ home, or they can be picked up at City Hall on Dec. 22.

“We hope to collect enough donations of non-perishable foods to make a Christmas meal and basket to go with the presents,” Echer said. “We are hoping to get the donations from Iowa Beef and Poultry Producers and local grocery stores.”

Two bicycle shops, Bike World, 126 South Third St., and Michael’s Cyclery, 320 Main St., are working with the program to help provide bicycles for the families and children at the Boys and Girls Club.

“[The program] really works great for the shop,” said Steve Lauber, store manager for Bike World. “We usually have lots of free time this time of the year, and we have great mechanics to do the fix-ups. This is the first year we’ve done something like this, and we’ve gotten a good response so far.”

Lauber said many of the apartment buildings in the area give the shop bikes that students leave. They also get walk-in donations, but these sources have lacked in one area.

“We’ve got plenty of bikes for the older kids from the student and apartment donations, but what we really need is small boys bikes,” Lauber said.

Shop workers will be repairing bikes for the program up until Dec. 20.

Echer said he is optimistic that this program will continue because of the support it has received.

“It shows how employees of the city of Ames can group together to help needy families,” he said.