Santa's helpers: Workshop encourages giving above getting

WASILLA — It’s crunch time for Santa and his helpers, but this weekend he has a few extra hands in the Valley.

Teresa Fuller is his unofficial “head elf” in the Valley, running Santa’s Workshop at AMVETS Post 11 along the Parks Highway. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and today, Fuller and her elf helpers have opened the workshop up to local children to do their Christmas shopping for free.

“This is a dream that I’ve had,” Fuller said. “I started sending letters out to the community and see if I could get some donations. It’s happening and we saw 100 kids today.”

Santa’s Workshop allows children to make Christmas shopping lists for family members, then elves help them choose inexpensive gifts to give them. Before the children leave, their lists have been satisfied and all the gifts wrapped with tags.

The message is one of giving, Fuller said. Taking the monetary aspect out of it, children focus on giving to loved ones rather than how much gifts cost.

“This isn’t based on how much or how little money somebody has,” she said. “It’s just giving a child the experience whether you have a million dollars or nothing.”

It’s a lesson that came through for 9-year-old Cody Fuller, who was the first child to go through the workshop on Saturday.

“I was the first one in, so I had a lot to choose from,” he explained excitedly. “There are different places (to choose gifts from) over there, then I started looking over there for things for my brother. There was so much, it was hard to choose.”

Eventually, Fuller left with gifts for his 15-year-old brother, mom and dad.

“Since it’s free, I actually think it’s pretty fun,” he said. “There are all these toys and tons and tons of cool tools, and even this baseball thing you can give your brother — and that Indiana Jones thing right there!”

Choosing a meaningful gift for his brother was also on Fuller’s mind. “Last year, instead of getting me something, he took me to a store and bought me a paintball gun — and then I lost it.”

Fuller’s father, John, is one of the workshop’s elves. Watching how children react to being able to choose gifts to give has been inspiring, he said.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I’m seeing the kids’ faces when they come in here and they have so much to choose from. It teaches them that you don’t have to have a whole lot of money to give, and that it’s good to give, not just receive. It shouldn’t be the price of the present, it’s the giving that’s meaningful.”

For Teresa Fuller, an AMVETS past president, the workshop is the culmination of a dream and hours of hard — but enjoyable — work. She and the elves — Dean, Debbie, Sue, Theresa, John, Mary, Jennifer and Josh — spent hours drawing and coloring large holiday murals to decorate the workshop.

“I am the head elf, and all my little elfins have followed my dream to make it a reality. We spent many hours coloring at night,” she said. “We wanted it to be that when the kids came in, it was an atmosphere that they were in Santa’s workshop.”

Dean Backen looks the part of a Christmas elf, with his neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, red-and-green felt vest and hat. His reward is seeing the looks on the children’s faces who are excited to give, not receive.

“Just the enjoyment on their faces has been great,” he said. “There’s a lot of surprise from them, not to mention my surprise when I see how well Teresa’s put this together. I feel honored she asked me to be part of it.”

There are tables filled with gifts either donated from the community or bought by Teresa Fuller herself. Gifts for boys are in one area, gifts for girls another, mom and dad would be pleased with any of the offerings on their tables.

Seeing the workshop in action makes the planning and work worth the effort, she said, adding her son, Josh Pritchett, summed up the spirit of the event the best: “The gift comes from the heart, not the wallet.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.