We hosted 67 preschoolers from The Village for Early Childhood Education for a holiday lunch, with benefits. These Head Start kids got Santa's attention and went home with bags of winter clothing and toys.
This project is the passion of our member Dr. Frank Sargent, who started it on a smaller scale more than 20 years ago. He had heard that some of the children were coming to school without coats or shoes. And so he fixed that.
The school gives us detailed lists of kids' sizes, and we partner with the Englewood Walmart to load up the clothing and gifts. This year Walmart's Kristine Wallen pre-shopped and packed up all the clothes -- huge boxes of parkas and gloves and hats and pajamas. Our volunteers shopped for the toys.
And then there was the party! We were at the Douglas H. Buck Community Recreation Center, across the street from the school. Our member Josh Staller was Organizer in Chief this year. We had strong member support, too -- shoppers, schleppers, Santa, assorted "elves" and Cheryl Saborsky on the piano.