A 48-year tradition in Westville, going back to 1976, rides once again this Saturday (Dec 21st). It all began when two ladies wanting to do something special received some names from the school nurse Judith Giacoma Elementary School. And they soon realized a lot of families needed help, and the effort needed to expand. Darlene Oakes, who joined the team a couple years after it started, takes us back.
AUDIO: Cindy Pataki and Debbie Seripinas were best friends. And they decided to go to the school and get a family to help for Christmas. Well when they got there, there was multiple families; so they helped all of them by asking their friends and relatives to help donate; to make these Christmases for these kids. Well then it just grew and grew and grew.
And all these years, loads of anonymous, volunteer Santas have been delivering the toys to families. Darlene says they used to send flyers home with all the Westville students. Now, sign up is done online. Volunteers will be assembling in the old high school gym this Saturday, wrapping the donated toys, from 11 different barrels around town, lined up in the cafeteria. The Santas will hit the road at 3 PM, and probably be on the job until about 7. And families need to be home and have an adult present to receive the donated toys. Darlene says from collecting to wrapping to distributing as an anonymous Santa, it’s almost impossible to say how many volunteers make this work.
