Kiwanis Brings Santa to Manatee Elementary School

If the kids at Manatee Elementary School didn’t believe in Santa Claus, they do now. 

The Man in Red showed up at the school on Monday morning, with Mrs. Claus and 15 or so volunteers, all members of the Kiwanis Club of Marco Island, and they brought individual gifts, age and gender appropriate, for each one of the school's approximately 600 students. 

Class after class, the students filed into the school’s media center – what used to be called the library – which had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Christmas and holiday music played softly in the background, elf-costumed Kiwanis greeted them and gave each a candy cane as an opening gambit, while a brightly lit Christmas tree and a roaring fireplace were behind the Clauses on a big-screen television. 

Barbara Murphy, immediate past president of the Kiwanis along with her husband Mike, coordinated a group of behind-the-scenes elves who handled the unglamorous but critical task of matching the kids with the appropriate gifts. These were all unwrapped and featured many of this year’s hot button wants for the under-10 set. 

Presents presented included soccer balls (for both boys and girls), Care Bears, something called Swishmallows, Lego sets, jewelry kits, games including Headbanz, billed as a “family guessing game,” lots of toy cars and trucks, and a copious helping of Barbie dolls. No child was left behind.

The children were too busy marveling at their newfound treasures to focus on much of anything else, but the adults at Manatee Elementary were effusive in their thanks to the Kiwanis members, who have been raising funds and purchasing toys by the score for months. 

“The Kiwanis are the prime mover – they’re fantastic. And they do a lot for us other than just this event,” said Manatee school counselor Debbie Eby, who coordinates the program at the school’s end.

“It’s incredible. This has been a longstanding partnership with the Kiwanis, something we all look forward to – staff as well as students,” said Manatee El principal Dr. Laurie Mearsheimer. 

At the Title One school, where a large percentage of the families don’t have disposable income to spend on the holidays, “they might not have a big Christmas at home,” said Mearsheimer, “but they can come here and have a celebration.” 

“So many children don’t even receive a gift” apart from what they are given at school, said Kiwanis president Donna Dubey. “But to see the expression on their faces is phenomenal. Some kids say, ‘I’m going to give this to my little brother.’”

“This is the most heartwarming event,” said Kiwanis past president Mike Murphy. “This is what Christmas is all about.”