On Thursday, teams of employees and volunteers from Hopelink visited Microsoft Corp. in Redmond to collect gifts donated by the tech company’s employees.

The Redmond-based human services nonprofit has partnered with Microsoft for more than 12 years to provide gifts for children through a Giving Tree campaign and Darrell Bulmer, senior communication manager at Hopelink, said this year, they have received more than 5,000 gifts.

The gifts correspond with tags on giving trees that list items Microsoft employees can buy and place under the trees, unwrapped until pickup day. Bulmer said the gifts are for children ranging from newborns to 18 years old and include books, electronics, games, clothes, toys, stocking stuffers and more.

“The cool thing about this is the partnerships that stem from this,” he said.

Those additional partnerships include firefighters and paramedics from the Redmond Fire Department and volunteers from the moving company, Two Men and a Truck, as they help with transporting the gifts.

Bulmer said once the gifts are collected from Microsoft, they are then taken to five Hopelink food banks in Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Shoreline and Sno-Valley. The food banks are transformed into gift-giving rooms and Hopelink clients who are registered for the organization’s food banks are eligible for the gift rooms, he said. Bulmer added that children do not visit the gift rooms — the selections are done by the parents.

“It’s a really cool thing,” Bulmer said about the Giving Tree campaign.

Last year, Hopelink was able to provide gifts for about 7,000 children through its gift rooms. These were from contributions from Microsoft employees as well as donations from other businesses, organizations and community groups.

This year, the Redmond groups participating in gift drives for Hopelink’s campaign include Iron Tribe Fitness, Emerald Heights, Nintendo and The Cleveland Condos. A number of Redmond-area schools have also held drives for the cause.

Bulmer said there are more than 200 gift drives happening throughout the region for Hopelink’s campaign.

“This is definitely a record year for Hopelink,” he said about communities’ participation.

And while all of these drives provide gifts for the giving rooms, Bulmer said Microsoft’s contributions are the largest.

“We love supporting Hopelink,” said Stacey Key Quintella, an executive assistant at Microsoft who is also the project manager of the Microsoft Giving Tree. “There are also five other nonprofits who benefit from our Giving Tree program: Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club, Snohomish Boys & Girls Club, Friends of Youth, Senior Services (in Seattle) and Seattle Children’s (Hospital).”

She said the estimated 25,000 gifts from Microsoft employees will go toward these organizations and those they serve.

“It’s important for everyone to be a good human in this day and age,” Quintella said. “I’m not biased to just Microsoft. The Giving Tree is just one of many options that Microsoft includes as part of their helping hands to the community.”

In addition to providing gifts to those in need, the items donated by Microsoft employees are also eligible for the tech company’s matching gift program, meaning the organizations receive additional monetary donations.

Quintella said the company uses the tax receipt of items purchased and matches the full amount for this campaign. “Employees show us the receipt and Microsoft sends the dollar figure the employee spent to the nonprofit,” she said. “Last year, this program hit the $1 million milestone, meaning that Microsoft matched, over the life of the Giving Tree program, one million dollars’ worth of gifts. Microsoft matches employee contributions to nonprofits up to $15,000 per employee, per year.”

Bulmer said at Hopelink, the matched monetary donations can go toward additional gift purchases for the Giving Tree or toward other Hopelink services throughout their organization.

“The Giving Tree program is one of many ways that Microsoft supports the community work of Hopelink throughout the year,” Bulmer said. “This program is very special, not only because of the amount of gifts that are donated by Microsoft’s employees, but because of the effect these gifts have on families throughout our community.”

He said more than 95 percent of the people Hopelink serves have a household income of less than $33,000 and parents in these households are more than likely working more than one job to just make ends meet.

Hopelink provides various services throughout the year to help people, but during the holidays Bulmer said they help parents “provide special memories for their children, who otherwise would go without at this time of year.”

“Parents face a difficult choice during the winter: heating bills, additional food and other pressures cause additional monetary strain,” he said. “The support provided by Microsoft’s employees and many other businesses in our region means that we can alleviate some of those pressures and ensure that children everywhere, regardless of means, can enjoy the holidays.”