By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
Santa’s Workshop is asking students to donate books rather than toys this holiday season to benefit underserved children in Waco between pre-K and second grade.
South, Fla., senior and spiritual life leadership team member Jazz Fontanez said that her team’s goal is to provide students with at least 100 books by Dec. 7.
“The event is on the first Saturday of December this year,” Fontanez said. “It will last from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at [the Bobo Spiritual Life Center] and will include family-friendly activities like making reindeers out of snacks, taking pictures with a guest Santa and doing holiday-themed face painting.”
The transition away from donating toys to give as presents came after spiritual life saw a need for providing more books to the Title I schools in Waco, who face financial challenges, Fontanez said.
“We felt like students get more out of reading in the long run, rather than playing with toys,” Fontanez said. “I remember reading some of my favorite picture books as a child, like ‘Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham’ and ‘The Girl in the Striped Pajamas,’ which is where I learned to love to read both inside and outside of school.”
Annapolis, Md., junior and spiritual life leadership team member Taylor Boteler said that children in lower-income families deserve to have the same opportunities to read for fun that she had when she was their age.
“I read a lot when I was this age, like ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,’ ‘The Magic Treehouse’ and ‘Goodnight Moon,’” Boteler said. “Giving these young kids the chance to read ensures that they will grow their love for reading and reading abilities, which will help them throughout the rest of their lives.”
In order to make this event a success for volunteers, Boteler’s attitude is “the more, the merrier.”
“We typically have hundreds of kids show up, and we need volunteers to man all of the stations on the day of,” Boteler said. “One of my favorite memories from last year’s event was working the snowball station, which was like an egg run with a cotton ball on the spoon instead of an egg, and it was rewarding to see the faces of all of the kids get excited when they dropped their snowflake into the bucket.”
Books will continue to be accepted until Nov. 22.
