Head Start students celebrate Christmas

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press

Children tore open their brightly wrapped gifts and shouted out with glee as they unwrapped their very own toys.
Some of the children could barely contain their excitement when Santa came to visit the Head Start school at 1008 North Dr. on Friday. He didn’t come empty handed either; he delivered a present to each of the school’s students.
Santa didn’t do it alone, he was helped by generous donations. Ross donated $500 to help purchase gifts for the kids. H-E-B Plus! donated $60 and Dollar General donated $50. Raising Cane’s donated a free kid’s meal for each child.
“Not everyone can afford Christmas presents, so the fact that Ross donated presents and [Head Start] provided the celebration is really nice,” said Samantha Hall, whose daughter, Lilly Hall, attends Head Start. “The littlest thing to us can be the biggest thing to a child.”
“It was cool,” said Lilly Hall (5), who received a doll with a pet bird. She added that she thought Santa was nice and that she was excited to sing at the senior center.
Hall said that her daughter has been attending Head Start since she was 10 months old. At the school, Lilly has learned sign language, Spanish, and can count to 1,000.
“I love this facility. The people here are so kind,” said Hall.
“A lot of these kids are from low income families, so they won’t have a huge Christmas, so it’s important to us to kind of fill in that gap,” said Michelle Butts, Family Service Representative for Head Start.
After the children opened their gifts, they were excited to spread the Christmas spirit. They walked the short distance to the Senior Center wearing Santa hats and wielding bells. The seniors watched as the adorable youngsters regaled them with their presentations of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Jingle Bells”, and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. They also handed out cards to each of the seniors at the center.