It was a day of giving back in Bangor on Thursday. Multiple organizations in the area spent their day giving back for charity.
Thursday was the Salvation Army's most anticipated day of the year. At locations across the state the state, families picked up donated gifts provided by the Salvation Army. In Bangor, nearly 400 families received gifts.
"This is our favorite day because when these families come in they're so overwhelmed at the generosity of the community," said Salvation Army Captain Rebecca Kirk. "The idea of somebody that doesn't even know their kids would take time to pick out a gift so that their kid can have a wonderful Christmas. It's just awesome," added Kirk.
At the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, employees were also in the giving spirit. The hospital set up a shopping spree for patients in the rehab center that are unable to go out shopping themselves. Gifts were donated to the hospital to allow the patients to pick out gifts for friends and family of all ages, and after a patient picked out their gifts, volunteers would wrap the gifts for them.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center wasn't the only group wrapping presents on Thursday. Students at All Saints Catholic School in Bangor wrapped presents for residents at the Phillips-Strickland House. The students have been collecting these gifts since school started in September, but they're not the gifts you might expect. The gifts are items like toiletries that residents families might forget.
And the gifts kept on coming elsewhere in Bangor, but this time the gifts were candy canes. Members of United Way of Eastern Maine along with volunteers spent their day giving thanks to the community. Thursday morning they stopped into Bangor City Hall, surprising workers and saying thank you while handing out candy canes. The United Way also stopped by the Boys and Girls Club, Shaw House and many other businesses around Bangor. They even brought Santa Claus along with them to surprise young Mainers.