Dolton 149 ‘Breakfast with Santa’ Brings Toys for Kids, 1,000 Holiday Meal Boxes for Families
Dolton 149 ‘Breakfast with Santa’ Brings Toys for Kids, 1,000 Holiday Meal Boxes for Families (Calumet City, IL) — With no warning to residents, Santa Claus last week slipped past the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s radar, and made an early, unscheduled stop in Calumet City.
Accompanied by Mrs. Claus, Santa swooped into Dolton School District 149’s Middle School on December 3 for four hours to greet the district’s students, sit for photos, and, crucially, to hear the children whisper their Christmas list priorities into his ear.
Hundreds of cars jammed the school’s parking lot or found makeshift parking along South Pulaski road leading to the school for the annual holiday event as families poured into the building to enjoy a hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and, most important, to get a photo with Santa and Mrs. C.
In addition to getting face time with Santa and Mrs. Claus, hundreds of the children each received a toy and enjoyed face painting and holiday cookie designing crafts during the event that ran from 8:00 until 12:00 p.m.
“For many children from low income families in the district, the toy that they received at Dolton 149’s ‘Breakfast with Santa’ may be the only toy that they receive on Christmas,” said Dolton 149 Superintendent Dr. Maureen White. “That’s why Dolton 149 goes all out with our ‘Breakfast with Santa’ event to ensure that we can bring holiday joy into the lives all of our students.”
Meanwhile, Dolton 149 Board President Wilbur Tillman, who opened the event with a breakfast prayer and helped Superintendent White manage the gift raffle and to greet parents, commended his other board of education colleagues for their support of Breakfast with Santa: Lolita Crisler-Liggons (Vice-President), Bertha Jolly (Secretary), Zacarias Castillo, Darlene Gray-Everett, Mercedes Francisco, and Teresa Jemine.
“I want to thank the entire board for their support of our Breakfast with Santa event,” said Tillman. “And I want to wish the entire Dolton 149 community a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.”
While children received toys and other treats, moms, dads, and grandparents also shared in the holiday season’s good will.
Board member Darlene Gray Everett partnered with Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard to distribute to parents more than 1,000 holiday turkeys and meal boxes stuffed with sweet potatoes, grits, gravy mix, mashed potato mix, and all the dinners fixings to feed an entire family.
“Having holiday spirit means more than just expressing holiday greetings, it means helping less fortunate children and families have the means to enjoy the season with food on their tables warm coats on their backs and know that they are loved, too,” said Gray Everett, who was on hand at the event all day to direct and help hand out holiday meal boxes. “From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank Tiffany Henyard and Thornton Township for helping to provide more than 1,000 holiday meals. It’s a blessing to work with such generous people.”
Helping Gray Everett to hand out meal boxes and turkeys were Dolton 149 Board Members Zacarias Castillo and Mercedes Francisco.
Commenting on the event, Mr. Claus, himself, was quoted saying, “Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.”
The district’s winter break begins on December 23; classes resume on January 9.
Dolton 149 ‘Breakfast with Santa’ Brings Toys for Kids, 1,000 Holiday Meal Boxes for Families
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