Sharing the holiday spirit Sharing the holiday spirit (December 17, 2004)

Valley View community makes Christmas brighter
by Teresa C. Brown

It will be a very merry Christmas for everyone at Valley View Elementary School, thanks to the school's community of parents sharing the spirit of giving.

In keeping with a new tradition started last year, a giving tree was created to grant the Christmas wishes of 54 Valley View families, whose basic wishes may not otherwise have been fulfilled.

Spearheading the project, teacher Phyllis Mendoza and parent volunteers Jody Adams and Michele Phillips distributed forms to qualifying families.

Those families, a total of 350 individuals, returned the completed lists with names, ages, sizes and gift suggestions.

A lot of gift ideas were basics, said Phillips, such as bath towels, clothes and coats.

Decorative tags were created, giving a number assigned to a person and that person's gift idea, explained Adams. Those tags were hung on a tree in the school's lobby, where parents and staff members could select a tag.

The gifts were returned to the school wrapped and identified only with the assigned number, Mendoza said, and the gifts were bagged together in giant, gaily decorated bags for each family.

This week, teachers at the school replaced the numbers on the gifts with named gift tags and delivered the holiday surprises to the families, Mendoza said.

This is the second year Valley View has had a giving tree, Mendoza said, adding that last year, 41 families were helped through the altruistic program.

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