Naperville, District 203 Come Together to Make Christmas Happy for Kids in Need

When Pam Bartlett held her holiday party this year, it was a "Secret Santa" party. Her guests knew they would be picking a tag off the tree and buying gifts for children in need.

"Everyone was super excited," she said. "Anything to help, especially when it's local kids. I think peoples' hearts get bigger when it could be a child living next door."

Bartlett's son and his friends were eager to help, and they helped decorate the tree with the gift tags. The Secret Santa tags were passed out and, as with donations from around the community, the gifts were turned over to Naperville School District 203 for its Holiday Gift Project.

Last week the presents began arriving at the district administration building. A total of 738 children from District 203 will receive about three presents each, said Maureen Dvorak, the district's school services manager.

The school district took over the program four years ago, Dvorak said. The program had its start with the Sunrise Rotary Club and also had support from the Downtown Rotary Club. Both clubs continue to provide financial support, but the program is administered through the Naperville Education Foundation. Other community groups, including Edward Hospital and the Naperville Park District, also support the program.

For every student who was put on Santa's list, gifts are also given to their family members, ensuring that nobody in the family feels left out, Dvorak said.

Wrapped presents were piled high all around the sorting room in the administration building as Dvorak's crew of elves checked in and sorted the gifts according to which school they were intended for.

The call went out for gifts through the district's Talk 203 e-mail, through the Home & School programs, along with social media platforms such as Facebook, Dvorak said. The response to the call for gifts was so strong that at one point there were actually more sponsors than students. Even so, this year was the largest year in terms of numbers of students in need, Dvorak said.

While the work of organizing the distribution is labor intensive and required the help of about 40 volunteers, the feedback from families makes the effort worthwhile, Dvorak said.

"The social workers hear back from the parents that it is the only gift their child received for Christmas and that we saved Christmas for them," she said.

And, the No. 1 item on Christmas lists this year:  Coats.