While Christmas is marked with joy, some children don’texperience the same delight as others when they open gifts onChristmas morning. A Brookhaven civic group is looking to changethat.

“We have about 300 children who need to be ‘adopted’ forChristmas,” said Lori Jones, who along with Amy Cox is co-chairmanof the Brookhaven Junior Auxiliary’s Christmas Wish Tree.

The faces of those needy children, who were discovered through ascreening process last week, can be filled with smiles by pickingtheir personal information off the JA Christmas trees in fourlocations in Brookhaven — Wal-Mart Supercenter, State Bank on theBoulevard, Bank of Brookhaven and Cracker Barrel restaurant.

“We encourage everyone to go out and get their angels. Theyshould get their kids involved in the giving spirit, too, byletting them pick out some of the gifts for the needy children,”said Jones, who has been involved with the project for threeyears.

The trees contain ornament cut-outs in the shape of angels andstockings. Those ornaments provide the child’s clothing and shoesizes, age and gender, along with the child’s identificationnumber.

“Each ornament has a number, not the child’s name, to keep itprivate, and that number should be on each one of the gifts,” Jonessaid, adding that one side of the ornament has a designated areafor people to fill out their name and phone number to show theyadopted a child.

The trees will be left up until all 300 names are picked foradoption or until Dec. 10, when gifts should be turned in. Thegifts, which should be unwrapped, need to be placed under any ofthe four JA Christmas trees by that date.

JA members are thankful for all gifts and donations, and plan togive equally to each of the children.

“We make sure each child has two outfits, three toys, a pair ofshoes, a package of socks and underwear, a toothbrush andtoothpaste,” Jones said.

Monetary donations to JA are used to fill in when all thoseitems are not bought for an adopted child.

Donations may be sent to Brookhaven Junior Auxiliary, P.O. Box169, Brookhaven, MS 39601.