St Elizabeth Seton Conference St. Vincent de Paul Society
By Karen Boeck
On December 19th, the various St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) conferences that serve daily meals at Santa Teresita in El Mirage invited Santa to their daily meal. Families, children, and adults came as invited to eat and see Santa, who brought gifts for both children and adults. An early lunch was served and then families went outside to wait in line to see Santa. Each family came in, saw Santa, and received their gifts.
While Santa greeted and talked with the children, Mrs. Claus assisted by helping the process move along in an orderly manner, allowing one family to enter as another was departing. There were Barbies, trucks, stuffed animals, bracelets, Lego’s (about eighty boxes) and other toys of various kinds for the children, plus presents for the adults, including gloves, scarves, hats, socks, blankets, coffee mugs and even some bed linens.
Approximately one hundred adults and 60 children, mostly ages 2-10, attended. SVdP conference personnel helped with the meal and party, and many conferences contributed toys and gifts. Two large boxes of toys and gifts along with meals were provided by our downtown Watkins location. Our party was organized by George Kelly from our own St Elizabeth Seton SVdP, and there were many others who worked to serve the meals and keep the flow to Santa moving along. Sue Donut and Rosolba Chan sorted all the gifts into bins so that the lines could move quickly and efficiently. Everyone worked together to make the process flow as smoothly as possible, and they enjoyed the attention and joy that they received.
There were known to be four individuals who were homeless and needed a little extra attention. Since we had found four sleeping bags, we took these people aside and gave these to them to help keep them warm during the cold nights.
God is good, All the Time and All the Time, God is good! Thanks to all those who supported and worked to give families and those in need a little bit of happiness for Christmas!