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LIC Restaurants Have 'Angel Trees' to Collect Gifts for Homeless Kids

 Eight restaurants in Long Island City will host "angel trees" from now until Dec. 23, 2013 to collect gifts for kids in the shelter system.
Eight restaurants in Long Island City will host "angel trees" from now until Dec. 23, 2013 to collect gifts for kids in the shelter system.
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

LONG ISLAND CITY — A Queens restaurant group is looking to spread some holiday cheer this season by asking customers to act as "angels" to kids in need.

Eight restaurants in Long Island City will have "angel trees" until Monday to collect gifts for children in the shelter system.

The eateries will be displaying paper angel ornaments, each with information on a different child — with their age, favorite color and shoe size — that good Samaritans can use to anonymously buy presents for them.

"I'm super excited about this," said Rebecca Trent, owner of The Creek and The Cave at 10-93 Jackson Ave., and one of the founders of the group LIC Eateries, which is hosting the project.

Growing up, Trent said she and her family bought gifts for people in need through "angel trees" every year, and she wanted to recreate the project, describing the act as "very direct impact."

"One hundred precent of what you're doing is going straight to the kid," she said.

Participants can pick up an ornament at any of the participating eateries: Masso, Sage General Store, Manducatis Rustica, Alobar, Woodbines, The Creek and The Cave, Alewife NYC and Tournesol.

They are then asked to buy a bag of wrapped presents for the child whose ornament they selected, ranging from stocking stuffers to larger items like clothes, which LIC Eateries will then deliver to local shelters for Christmas.

Many of the restaurants will be offering a free entree to do-gooders who deliver their angel tree gifts before Monday, while participants who drop off their presents on Monday can get a complimentary drink at the bar.

Trent said they started the project on Wednesday, and that ornaments were already flying off the branches just a day later.

"It's been really joyous to see people's reactions to it," she said.