With Christmas music echoing through City Creek Center’s east plaza and volunteers cutting the ribbon in front of the bright, candy-apple-red vending machines, Utah’s 2025 Light the World Giving Machines officially opened Monday — marking the beginning of a season of giving that organizers say changes thousands of lives each year.

Utah’s first lady Abby Cox attended the grand opening and there were musical numbers from Jenny Oaks Baker and Oba and Yahosh Bonner.

The machines, which run Nov. 24–Jan. 1, allow visitors to purchase items for global and local nonprofits — everything from handwashing stations and laptops to after-school snacks, youth programs, trees, chickens and even a tank of gas for a refugee parent rebuilding life in Utah.

This year, Salt Lake City’s machines include six

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