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The Angel Tree at Post Oak Mall. Photo by Joshua L. Hobson/The Battalion.
( ^» • •
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Continued from page 3
Jefifcoat said.
Angel Tree also employs
measures to ensure the legitma-
cy of the people who sign up
for help.
The Angel Tree program
allows donors to feel assured
that their gift will go to someone
who truly needs it. Last year
alone. Angel Tree was able to
provide gifts for more than
3,000 children.
Another way people can get
involved and help during the
holidays is through meal pro
grams such as Twin City
Missions’ Community Cafe.
Community Cafe feeds three
meals a day to its clients, and
anyone can have one meal a
day. This program reaches
88,000 people each year,
making it what organizers say
is a valuable asset to the com
munity. The work of volun
teers helps many people
receive something most Texas
A&M students take for grant
ed each day.
Ron Crozier of Twin City
Mission said volunteer oppor
tunities exist in their retail
stores and support services.
Crozier said during the holi
days there is an increased
openness in people and an
increased desire to do some
thing for those who are less
fortunate.
Jeffcoat said the Salvation
Army helps provide people
with food for Thanksgiving.
She said programs like this
are important because the aid
from the program may be all
they get. These programs also
help reach older community
members, many of whom
have no families at all.
While many students are
faced with in even more
hectic daily schedule during
the holidays, the benefits of
helping someone else can
outweigh the loss of person
al time. Jeffcoat said help
ing others is a wonderful
experience.
“You get to meet a lot of
new people and give the gift
of giving,” she said.
By Matt Pickard
THE. BATTALION
H e used to be a business
consultant, guaranteeing
his clients that he could double
their profits if they would listen
to his advice. But 12 years ago,
James Park had a bit of a career
change, and he’s been loving it
ever since.
He became Santa Claus.
Park said it’s important for
kids to experience the magic of
this time of year, and he is glad
he can be a part of it as Santa.
“It's not about some fan
tastic individual who can
bring whatever you want
whenever you want it. It’s
about fun,” he said. “There’s
been a lot of controversy
about Santa commercializing
Christ’s birthday, but the first
Santa chose to do it to help
children.”
Amy Bacon, class of 1991,
said she stresses the true mean
ing of the holiday to her four-
year-old daughter, Elena, but
also combines the fun and
magic of Santa Claus.
“We’ve read the story about
the first Santa Claus, about him
leaving gifts for children and
becoming a saint for children
who were less fortunate,” Bacon
said. “She just thinks that he’s
the same person and he’s just
gotten older and older.”
After enjoying the magic of
Santa as a child. Bacon said it’s
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Santa
been just as much fun as a
mom.
“The most fun is putting
(Elena) to bed on Christmas
Eve and waking her up in the
next morning,” Bacon said.
“Last year she woke up in the
morning and she said, ‘Mom, I
had sugar plums dancing in my
head last night and I heard
reindeer on the roof, so I know
he’s been here,”’ Bacon said.
“Going downstairs with her
and watching her expressions
is so classic.”
Senior electrical engineering
major Brandon Turner said he
misses the fun that Santa
brought to the Christmas holi
days.
“It was a lot more fun as a
kid," Turner said. “Now I know
everything I am going to get a
week before I get it.”
Most children, especially as
they get older, want to know if
the Santa Claus they are talking
to is the real one. Park said one
of his favorite parts of working
at the mall is convincing kids
that he is indeed Santa.
“Those are typically the
ones I nail,” Park said. “I like
to watch them walk off the set
and ask their parents if they
had told me (what he knew
about the child).”
If that inside information
isn’t enough to convince the
cynics, he shows them the card
he carries around, which most
children have seen in the Tim
Allen movie, “The Santa
Clause.”
It reads: “If something
should happen to me, put on
my suit. The reindeer will
know what to do.”
If he put on the suit and car
ries the card around, he must
be Santa. Right?
Park said he got the card 12
years ago, just like it is shown
on the movie.
But unlike Tim Allen, Park
really is Santa, at least for two
children.
A young girl who visited
Santa came from a family who
was in terrible financial shape.
They didn't have enough
money for a Christmas tree or
dinner, much less toys for the
children.
Park contacted mall mer
chants and delivered a plethora
of toys to the family on
Christmas Eve. So, don’t try to
tell that little girl there’s no
Santa.
Another girl told Park that
all she wanted for Christmas
was for her dad to find a job.
Park tried to reassure the
girl that he would do every
thing he could as Santa. But it
wasn’t enough for Park to just
comfort her.
It just so happened that he
knew of a worker looking to
hire someone. He told the girl’s
mother who to call and to tell
the man that Santa sent him.
The girl came back to see
Santa later that month and was
beaming from ear to ear
because Santa had granted her
a Christmas wish and her dad
no longer had to look for work.
“That’s what I feel it’s all
about,” Park said, “keeping
alive the hope, the giving, the
caring. Keeping love alive and
keeping fun alive.”
Senior biomedical science
major Michelle Marino said
she misses that fun part of
Christmas.
“I miss the fun of waking up
on Christmas morning and see
ing what Santa brought me,”
Marino said. “It’s still fun now,
but as a kid it was more magical
because it was always a mystery
of how Santa pulled it off. He
was always full of surprises.”
Sophomore general studies
major Courtney Potter said she
misses the fun of having Santa
at Christmas but it’s hard to
take it seriously once all the
kids grow up.
. “It’s hard to get into it
because no one in my family
still believes in it,” Potter said.
“If I had a little brother or
someone that believed in it I
would. But it’s hard when
everyone in your family is
grown up and doesn’t believe
in it.”
But, don’t tell Santa that.
By Dallas Shipp
Texas
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