The 2024 Valley Service Organization (VSO) Giving Tree is tagless, just ten days after going up in the front window of Town and Country Realty in Saratoga.

The annual project is organized by the VSO and designed to ensure all Valley children have a chance to enjoy a Merry Christmas regardless of their economic circumstances, according to Project Chairman Micki Hall.

Packages are lining up the shelves at the Saratoga Post Office and it is bursting at the seams. According to the United States Postal Service (USPS), the busiest time of the year is Thanksgiving to January 1, when people are sending their annual Christmas cards and letters, packages to loved ones and orders from online companies.

Residences and businesses in Saratoga are encouraged to turn on their holiday lighting on December 18 before 5:30 p.m. as the Valley Service Organization will be driving around town to judge who has the best light display.

Zachary Fall and Bryana Yukniewicz are some of the most recent residents of the Platte Valley, having moved here in January. In less than a year, however, the two have found that the best way to a community’s heart is through its stomach.

Zach and Bryana are the couple behind Bagels & Badges, a small business which started earlier this year and rapidly increased its revenue tenfold.

Photo credit: D'Ron Campbell