During this season of giving, employees of the Nesquehoning McDonald's, along with their customers, opened up their hearts and wallets to make Christmas a special day for some struggling families in the Panther Valley area.

For the fifth consecutive year, McDonald's has partnered with the Meed's United Methodist Church to operate an Angel Tree at the restaurant.Bertha Shreffler of Meed's Methodist Church, was overjoyed when she saw the amount of toys and other items that were donated through the program."Some of these kids wouldn't even have a Christmas if it weren't for the Angel Tree at McDonald's," she said.A list of children's names, ages and items requested was given to Shreffler by the Panther Valley School District. Angels with the items requested were then hung on a tree in the restaurant. Customers and employees selected an angel and purchased the items on the list for the children.In all, 37 Panther Valley-area children benefited from this year's Angel Tree.