Dear Santa...I'm not sure if you're real, but if you are....

Hello all my friends and family,

Please take a minute to read a few unedited excerpts from the letters my students wrote yesterday:

“Dear Santa, I would like to wear warm pjamas because it is going to be cold.”

“Dear Santa, I really please need more jeans because I always have to wear my sisters jeans and I would be so excited for a pare of my own.” 

“Dear Santa, I really need winter close because I don’t have any winter close all my shirts are short.”

“Dear Santa, I want globs and hats and a new nonfiction book so I can read and lern.”

“Dear Santa, I want a video game becaue my TV is brokn and we won’t fix it soon and I have nothing to do at my house and I want some new warm socks it was cold last week and I only have 1 set of socks.”

“Dear Santa, My family needs food since the only food is from the store with the long lines and we do not get as much as we need so I eat a lot of food at school.”

“Dear Santa, My little brother needs new boots because my mom dose not have enofe money to by them.  He also needs glassez.  Please Santa, please give him these things.”

“Dear Santa, I don’t think you are real becauz my sister said we were not having Christmas presents this year but if you are real that would mak me and my sister so so happy becauz we really need warm cool clothez.”

I could continue, but I’m pretty sure you get the gist…

 I work in a very impoverished school district. At last count, my school is over 95% free and reduced lunch, and our annual residential turnover (how quickly kids come and go) is 36%. (which means kids are constantly moving, staying with relatives, switching schools, etc…)

My second grade class are a lively bunch of 8 year olds who have a wide range of talents and challenges between them.  We have 10 boys and 10 girls who to put it bluntly, need the bare necessities for Christmas and the winter season that is coming.  One of my kiddos lives with a foster family of 10. Another family has 6 of the smartest, sweetest, and most polite girls you’ve ever seen, but they struggle just to buy them shoes. Most of my kids are constantly asking for “more breakfast please” and they tend to save some of the snacks we get to take home to their siblings. Whenever we serve fruit for snacks, they always grab some to take home to be sure they have a snack later. The school provides free breakfast and lunch that we serve every day and for some of my students this is the only time they even get to eat. One of my boys has a brother in jail and he says he’s saving up his change so he can go visit him someday, and the vast majority of my kids don't have enough books, pencils, paper or even crayons at home to do their homework. One little boy told me last week that instead of having extra recess for his reward for doing a good job, could he please have a box of crayons for his house because he’s always wanted a box.  Another little boy told me he couldn’t come to school last week when it was cold because he only has one hoodie and he was embarrassed to wear it to school.  I dug through Maelin’s old things last week and I was able to give a little girl one of Maelin’s old coats and she sits in class now and wears it.  She’s so excited and proud to finally have a coat and she doesn’t want to take it off.

 It's not that all of the parents are deadbeats or don't care: I've met all my parents and most of them are devoted to their kids and passionate that their kids MAKE IT: they want their kids to rise above their situation and become better than they themselves have it.

This is my 9^th year helping to provide a little bit of holiday cheer for my class, the 2^nd grade, and with your help, the entire school and it is the absolute highlight of my year.  Words can’t describe the joy I feel when 2 years later, I see younger brothers and sisters running around the playground wearing a coat you donated 4 years ago.  Or when a parent comes in to thank me and give me a hug in broken Spanish to tell me that without the boots you sent, their child would have to walk to the bus stop every day with holes in their shoes.  Or the happiness that we see when a child holds on to the one Christmas present you sent because she wants to take it home and open it there as she knows it will be the only one she receives this year.  Or the feeling that someone cares about them when I’m able to give a family a gift card that you sent to buy a turkey for their Christmas dinner. Or watching a child walk down the hall with new jeans, or a new sweater and not having to keep their hands in their pants to hold them up because the only pair they have is too big and they don’t have a belt. Or the pride in the 8 year old’s eyes when he zips up his new coat to go outside to play soccer with his friends for the first time. Or watching children squeal and run around on the playground all bundled up with new hats and gloves and with the spring in their step that you put there for possibly the first time.  Or a grandmother of 4 girls that I had continually over the years coming back to give me a hug and tell me that without our help, her grandchildren that she’s struggling to provide for would not have had a Christmas for years.  Or the outpouring of gifts, money, food, clothes, and love from all over the world you gave to my student and his family who was suffering from a brain tumor and had to ride around in a stroller at 9 years old because his single mom couldn’t afford a wheelchair. Or the 25 handmade quilts that were sent so each child in my room could cuddle under a warm blanket when a few of them shared towels that were used for that purpose. I could keep going, but I want to make sure that you know that you have made all of that and so much more possible over the years, and again, I’m asking for your help.

This year, I’m hoping to again provide at least one present for the entire second grade of 98 children.  Instead of asking for any and all donations, I instead am asking for two small things that will make their holiday just a little bit brighter and will remind them that despite the circumstances they were born into, there are people out there that care about them and want them to succeed.  I would love to be able to get two things for all the second graders in my school: a new pair of pajamas, and a new book at their reading level.  This may sound small to you, but please believe me that even a new pair of pj’s and a book from a stranger will be just the boost kiddos need to remind them there’s a big world out there with people who care about them.  I will also be making sure every child in my room has decent shoes, coats, socks, and clothes to get them through the winter which can be bitter and even one pair of new socks can make a huge difference.

As always, we are in desperate need of socks, underwear, coats, hats, gloves, and gently used clothing for most kids in the entire school in every range of sizes and styles.  Many children have siblings that are also in desperate need of help, and anything you send will find its way to good use.  If you’d like to contribute anything at all, please send Target Gift Cards in any amount to:

Mara Kimling

c/o Alsup Elementary School

7101 Birch Street

Commerce City, CO  80022

I will make sure every child receives a gift for Christmas and the children and families who are desperate get their needs met.  I will need all donations at my school by Friday, December 12, 2014 so I have time to get everything wrapped and distributed by the holiday break.  As I know most of you reading this have forwarded, collected, donated, helped with organization, created videos, visited, and had their companies match their donations over the years, I’d like to end this letter with a link to watch what YOU were able to help me accomplish last year.  I thank you in advance for the love and generosity and spirit you show to these kiddos.  Please believe me, it lives in all of our hearts for years.

Ms. Mara Kimling

Please click here to watch the 3 minute video of what we have done together.  I promise you, it’s worth your time.

Christmas Drive Video 2013

"You had told me about this drive, but oh my goodness...I can't believe this!  This is incredible!" --Mr. Mike Abdale, Alsup Principal

There were moments our new principal who had never seen this before was speechless.  Standing still, his eyes chock full of tears as he watched package after package delivered to the office.  Person after person coming to the building loaded with gifts, clothes, food, toiletries, books, and even money for us to distribute amongst the students and their families.  The Air Force coming in droves with stacks of presents.  A family driving all the way down from Wyoming to deliver boxes and boxes.  A church donating money.  Hundreds of normal, everyday people who received my blog or email and decided to act.  Decided to send anything from a $5 gift card, to school supplies, to hundreds of dollars for new pajamas.  As the gifts kept pouring in, my principal became even more silent.  He finally said through his tears, "There's just not enough thanks I could say that would convey just how much we appreciate this."  

I agreed with him and told him I would try.  So here's my attempt to show you just what it was like in a small elementary school in Commerce City the week before Christmas...

Stockings stuffed full of gifts for 1st and 2nd graders created and paid for by two teenagers from Boulder.  They delivered them themselves and passed them out to squealing 6 and 7 year olds to cries of, "I've never had my OWN stocking before!"   Brand-new coats delivered anonymously which I passed out to kiddos who had been showing up in the sub-zero temperatures in hoodies.  Their mothers called me the next day with tears of gratitude.  The Air Force organized their own gift drive and came with brand new toys, books, socks, mittens, and coats for the entire 2nd grade...all 96 of them.  I heard a few kids exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!" and "I'm taking this home and putting it back under the tree so I have presents on Christmas!"  The student council from Merino High School which is a 4 hour drive away came in Santa hats to give gifts, hugs, and joy.  Hand-sewn warm, fleece blankets were delivered for every kiddo in my class.  You would never imagine the amount of joy something simple like a blanket brings, but it was there.  Boxes and boxes of new grade level books arrived and the kids paraded through my classroom to pick out the ones they wanted.  Brand-new shoes, pants, and clothes for students who were in desperate need of them.  Bags of school supplies for the kids to take home so they can finally get their homework done. A pair of new pajamas for every kid in 2nd grade.  We had a record attendance that night for our Christmas Music Program and every kid wore their new pjs and were so excited and proud.  And finally...a new Christmas tree for a family who had finally gotten out of the homeless shelter into their own apartment and just couldn't manage a tree for their family.  Thanks to you...they got one.  A new 7 foot, prelighted tree that they can use year after year and be reminded that hard work and struggle will pay off...because there are people like you that care.

As Mr. Abdale said, there just isn't enough thanks in the world to convey what your actions created here.  It's a feeling of spirit, of caring, of giving, of the goodness that is in all of us that just isn't talked about enough.  All of you...ALL of you helped create that for hundreds of students and their families.  By working extra hours, by coordinating with your companies, by forwarding my email, by making sure you were part of the help and not waiting for someone else to step in, you all created this.  Thank you isn't enough, but it's what I have.  So...thank you.

Please enjoy the following photo video.  Hopefully it will give you some insight into what your action created.  I am so blessed to be a part of it as it lives in my heart not just during Christmas, but throughout the entire year.

Thank you.

2013 Christmas Drive Video