Volunteer group helps families in need during the holidays by
offering gifts, clothing, Christmas trees and food
By Erin Cooper, Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – Two little girls stand patiently with their father awaiting gifts from complete strangers. The presents will be the only gifts they receive this year.
Marisol, the 5-year-old, clings to her father’s hand and watches her mother greet the strangers at the door of their one-bedroom home. Marisol’s 2-year-old sister, Jennifer, stands excitedly in front of her father. The contagious smiles are everywhere because this Christmas the Garcia family has been touched by a group of angels.
One of those angels is Sandra Sammut, who, along with some friends, began a Christmas tradition a few years ago that has carried on.
“It first started off with three or four of us getting together every year and helping out families who were less fortunate,” she said. “Now it has expanded into almost 30 of us that includes the help of the Gilroy Youth Commission.”
Sammut first began by getting a group of friends together and adopting families for Christmas. The women would buy trees, presents and Christmas dinner so the families could experience Christmas without stressing about whether or not they could afford to do so.
Now, the Gilroy Youth Commission has joined in. They adopt a family and provide Christmas necessities, including clothes for the children, gift certificates, blankets, a Christmas tree and Christmas dinner. They generally reach out to junior high youth, but decided this year to become part of Sammut’s tradition.
The group adopted seven Gilroy families, with the help of Lucy Navarro, who teaches preschool for the Gilroy Unified School District and is in charge of finding the families who need a little extra help.
“After seeing the conditions of the houses, I feel privileged to be able to help the people who are less fortunate than me,” said Rachel Tenney, who has been an active member of the commission for two years.
The volunteers gathered up gifts, trees and food, and packed them into several vehicles like modern-day Santas to deliver the goodies to local families, each of which has a child between the age of 2 and 16.
Each home visited held families that expressed appreciation for the donations to make their Christmas complete.
At one home, the group was greeted by three smiling children waiting in front of the open door. Two girls grinned as the Christmas tree was carried into their house. Their mother stood at the door with an expression of gratitude on her face as the presents and food were carried in.
Sammut wished the family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and with those words the volunteers were off to help the next family on the list.
“It’s just such a wonderful experience to help these families out,” said Recreation Supervisor Gayle Glines.
In addition to this event, the Gilroy Youth Commission is responsible for performing one community service project a month. In April they will help put on a Senior Prom for the senior citizens of Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
“We really wanted to put on a dance for the senior citizens to participate in if they wanted to,” Tenney said. “I think it will be very special and rewarding to be a part of.”
But before they get to that, the teens and the employees of the City of Gilroy had more stops to help make Christmas come true for four more families.
“I thought it was really great to see the families we got to help,” said Bobby Kovacs. “It was great to see the smiles on the children’s faces when we gave them the presents.”
