Middle school leadership students give gifts for years

MAT-SU — Palmer Junior Middle School students have been working as busily as Santa’s elves this time of year to provide Christmas gifts to wanting children for more than a decade.

As volunteers for the 18th annual Special Santa program, eighth-grade students in Linda Ferris’ leadership are a part of the largest community Christmas gift-giving program in the Mat-Su Borough for children 18 and under, according to program CEO and “Chief Elf Organizer,” Mari Jo Parks.

“By helping families in need and reducing the stress of very busy and very expensive time of year,” Special Santa is great asset to the community, Parks said.

But it’s not just about reducing stress — it’s about longstanding relationships and commitment to giving back. Parks said many eighth grade students return as high school helpers, and she even met a college-aged volunteer the other day who helped out as an middle school student.

“For those of us who run this, and the elves, it’s helped make us a family,” she said. “Camaraderie and friendships have evolved from it and we have people year after year that come an help us.”

With Special Santa, youths become the experts. At their age, Ferris’ young volunteers probably sense the importance of Christmas gift giving better than adults.

“Christmas gifts in eighth grade, that’s a big deal,” Ferris said.

The students see Special Santa’s process through from start to finish, beginning with a fundraiser selling Krispy Kreme donuts in early October. This year, they sold out at the high school football team’s Potato Bowl, despite — or maybe because of — poor weather.

The students then participated in this year’s Halloween Hollow at Raven Hall, facilitating games and activities at the event, which is Special Santa’s biggest fundraiser. And Palmer Junior Middle’s involvement with Special Santa, in turn, is their biggest project of the year.

“They all have to do other community service work as part of the class but this is a huge part of it,” Ferris said.

In addition to fundraising, Ferris and her students will meet with Parks at Walmart next week to pick out gifts for other children, then return to the “workshop” at the old Palmer senior center, 831 Chugach St., to pack and wrap the gifts.

“They actually understand, I think, the need for community service, the need for this kind of a thing, because they see that there are people that need help from their community and there are people to help (those in need),” Ferris said.

Special Santa began in 1997 with just a few volunteers, with fewer than 100 children served. By contrast, more than 3,400 children were given gifts last year, and since the program began, more than 25,000 children received Christmas gifts through the Special Santa program, Parks said.

The program also acts as the Mat-Su Valley coordinator and distributor of gifts contributed to the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots, and works with The Salvation Army and other programs to meet families’ needs. They receive donations from individuals, businesses and various organizations including Lion Clubs, Rotaries, MEA Round-up, Bishop’s Attic II, the Mat-Su Health Foundation, and through community projects, Parks said.

“Christmas is definitely a time when people want to help one another, and before this project came…people didn’t know where to go,” she said.

Now, families are referred to Special Santa by state and local agencies, food banks, schools, churches, and other organizations that work with families in need, including the Knik Tribal Council, she said.

The Mat-Su Special Santa Program is sponsored in name by Alaska Family Services, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, primarily to give the organizers “checks and balances that are really important” without having to go through the lengthy process of starting their own non-profit organization, Parks said.

To sign up, families can visit specialsanta.net and click the “Applying” tab for relevant forms. The submission deadline for wish lists and income verification is Dec. 12 and families may begin picking up gifts at the workshop Dec. 16.

For more information, contact Mari Jo Parks at 761-3770 or matsu_santa@yahoo.com.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.