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Davidsen Students Help Others As 'Santa's Elves'

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 26, 2007

WESTCHASE - The girl's sneakers looked brand-new, and Bonnie Kirstein wondered whether it was appropriate to include her on the list of students who would receive donated Christmas gifts.

Then Kirstein learned those shoes were three sizes too big, and they were all the student had.

Kirstein, student intervention specialist at Davidsen Middle School, spearheaded the school's annual gift drive, adding families to her list as she heard stories of hardship.

The needs were large, but the ideas the students gave her were modest. One boy only suggested he needed a new uniform shirt.

"I kept saying, you have to give me something else," Kirstein said.

Davidsen, located among gated neighborhoods in Westchase, doesn't seem like its students would need help around the holidays. But the school enrolls more than 1,200 students and about half are considered economically disadvantaged.

The gift collection gives those who can afford to a chance to donate, and protects the privacy of the recipients. Kirstein's school advisory council organized the drive and promoted it, but the students did not know who would benefit. Kirstein gave them some first names so they could label packages and only provided initials for others.

Parents, students and the Parent-Teacher Association pitched in with donations, ranging from bathing suits and Dora the Explorer shoes to new bicycles for a pair of brothers.

About 20 people benefited from the donations this year. All have a Davidsen connection, with gifts going not only to students but also to parents and siblings. School advisory council members met one day recently to wrap and label gifts.

Students sliced through snowflake and snowman paper bought with their council dues and taped it around the gifts. Ashley Colden, 13, paused to help some of the boys with the taping and wrapping. The stacks of empty rolls got bigger and bigger.

"We're running out of wrapping paper," Ashley said.

Sarah Longhta, 13, stacked them by family in the hallway. Kirstein doled them out to parents to place under the tree for Christmas day. A mother received shiny red chargers and linens to set a holiday table. A little brother received a huge bag of plastic blocks. Parents brought stacks of gift cards to Publix, Target and Wal-Mart to allow families to shop on their own.

Kevin Mutchnick, a sixth-grader, said the whole reason the students donated toys and clothes was to make sure families had a good Christmas.

"We like to help people and make their day," said Kevin, 12.

He and his family talked about the project over dinner, sharing ideas about how to help others. His parents told him how they had donated toys when they were little that they wished they could keep for themselves.

But that was part of the lesson that Kirstein wanted students to learn - how good it felt to give.

"It feels so much better to give to another person," she said.

The students got a taste of the difference they were making. The girl with the oversized shoes received her presents early this year and wrote a thank-you note.

"Dear Santa's Elves," the girl wrote. "You truly are an angel, and you have been blessed. ... You have made a difference in my life."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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