Santa Makes a Special Delivery

Arianna Cabral-Nunez said she made her list weeks ago. Priscilla Silva said she checked hers twice.

So when Santa Claus rolled into the parking lot Wednesday at the South Oxnard Head Start in a governmental version of St. Nick’s sleigh--a gussied-up U.S. Postal Service delivery truck--the two 4-year-olds were among the first to greet him.

“Hi, Santa. Merry Christmas,” Arianna said with a grin, reaching through a chain-link fence to clutch his white-gloved hand and tug on his acrylic beard.

Nearby, 40 of Arianna’s classmates broke into an a cappella version of “Must Be Santa.”

Everybody cheered as Santa (Oxnard postal clerk Lenny Martinez) pulled dozens of wrapped toys from the back of the truck in preparation for a Head Start version of Christmas morning.

“It gives me a good feeling to hear them say thank you for the presents,” said Martinez, who was doing his second turn as St. Nick for the event after years playing the role for family and friends.

Among the gifts wrapped in green, red and blue paper was a green Scooby-Doo doll for Priscilla and a princess Barbie for Arianna.

The 2-year-old event is designed to spread cheer to nearly 1,100 children in Ventura County served by the federal Head Start program.

“They practiced [the song] all week,” Eva Gonzalez, head teacher for the South Oxnard Head Start program, said of the students’ Santa serenade. “They might not even have a Christmas, so we try and make this special for them.”

Helping were more than 800 postal workers from across the county who had divvied up the children’s holiday wish list and purchased a present for every child.

Last year, about 300 children asked for everything from dump trucks to Barbie and Elmo dolls. The number of requests more than tripled this year when officials decided to expand the program, said Creda Nowlin, family services coordinator for Head Start in Ventura County.

Although the postal service is under stepped-up security because of the fall anthrax scare, county workers met the demand, said Ray Chavira, the Oxnard postmaster who attended Wednesday’s gift delivery.

“It’s gratifying for people,” Chavira said. “Despite all that had happened, we were determined to do this again this year.”

Head Start receives about $8 million in federal funds for 16 programs countywide, Nowlin said. Eligible families must have a combined household income of less than $17,000.

“Families are struggling to make it in Ventura County,” Nowlin said. “This is wonderful for the children. They can’t wait.”

The gift-giving began after Martinez pulled up in the postal truck decorated with ornaments, lights and holly.

As the children shouted hello to gain his attention, Martinez made his way through a sea of small heads and took a chair in front of a classroom.

Wearing a red velvet suit made by his sister, he handed out the presents, exchanging hugs and “I love yous” with several of the children.

Trucks, fire engines and remote-controlled race cars apparently had figured big on the boys’ wish lists. One recipient, accompanied by a couple of his friends, immediately raced over to a patch of blacktop to test the siren and ladder on his new bright red firetruck.

Meanwhile, the girls watched in awe as one after another opened packages featuring dolls, most of them Barbies.

As several girls negotiated trades, 4-year-old Regina Ceja ripped open her present and let out a cheer. She offered up her new white teddy bear occasionally for hugs from the other kids, but mostly she held it close.

“It’s a girl,” Ceja quickly said when asked the bear’s gender. “Now I’m going to take her home and put her under a blanket.”