Wider view of Christmas

Students at College View Elementary enter the spirit of the season, give gifts to kids from Oak View.Members of the student council at College View Elementary School took a break from classes last Tuesday and acted as Santa’s little helpers, delivering more than 140 gifts to second graders at Oak View Elementary.

For the past three years, College View has sponsored one grade level from Oak View as part of the annual Angel Tree holiday project, co-organized by the Parent and Teacher Assn. and members of the Kid Council, the school’s student council.

After Thanksgiving, the PTA sends letters to all the parents explaining the project and asking for unwrapped toy donations.

Leslie Ross, PTA president, said they got more donations this year than in the past.

“Last year was good,” she said. “This year’s better.”

The students who helped deliver the gifts, all student-elected officers on the Kid Council, were chosen by Kemp to help with the project because they are all in fifth grade, their last year at College View.

“I think it’s better giving presents than getting presents,” said Dylan Andersen, 10, council president and a fifth-grader at College View.

Andersen, Vice President Cassie Baughman, 10, and Secretary Diana Le, 10, donned Santa hats as they helped Ross and Principal Susan Kemp deliver the wrapped toys.

“It’s great because the kids don’t probably receive a gift and this is the only gift they’ll get,” said Oak View’s community liaison, Sherri Medrano. “They take them home and I tell them to wait until Christmas to open them.”

Medrano said the school also received gifts from Circle View Elementary -- which went to the school’s kindergarten students -- and Marine View. With the extra toy donations, Medrano said she would call mothers in the community to see if they wanted to come and pick out toys for their children.

After winter break, the students who benefited from the donated gifts write thank you letters and send pictures to their secret angels, Medrano said.

Kemp said one of the custodians at College View is a former Oak View student and fondly remembers the gifts from school at Christmastime, which is one of the reasons they continue to sponsor Oak View every year.

“After we started, it was like, ‘We have to do this every year,’” Kemp said. Diana said it makes her feel good to be involved in the Angel Tree project because for some children, those are the only gifts they will get, and she wants to spread the joy of Christmas to everyone.

“It’s nice just to give presents,” Diana said.

20051229irtucmncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)College View Elementary students Dylan Andersen, Diana Le and Cassie Baughman help deliver gifts to Oak View Elementary.