Bl6—Lancaster Fanning, Thursday, December 24,1981
Here is a friend! Santa receives a cordial welcome from the
children at Christ Home for Children.
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Gifts are terrific, but hardly anything beats refreshments at
a party. Here the children dig into the cake and cookies
'■ovided the Boots and Saddles 4-H club.
Valerie High renews her acquaintenance with Connie, a
very outgoing youngster who seemed to remember many 4-
H'ers from the previous year.
Boots and Saddles Qub shar
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BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
PARADISE The spirit ot
Christmas is giving and loving,
-and there was an outpouring of
both when the Boots and Saddles 4-
H Club visited the Christ Home for
Children in Paradise last week.
It is the fourth year that the 4-H
Club has provided some Christmas
cheer for the 22 children who live
there, but this was by far the
biggest year in terms of quantity.
Members, parents and leaders
arrived in a caravan, which in
cluded one van tilled with 4-H’ers
and one van filled with donations
plus assorted pick-up trucks and
cars, all carrying part of the total
Christmas gift for the Home.
There .was plenty ot used
clothing and toys and many boxes
of canned goods for the kitchen.
There were even a sofa and a new
Joveseat among the items
delivered. In fact, the bags and
boxes filled a huge living room.
The children watched in awe as the
4-H members and parents earned
armful after armful into the Home.
But more exciting for the
children were the special gifts for
each one of them. A surprise treat
was the appearance of Santa
Claus, in the person of Mike
Cooper, a Sperry New Holland
employee, who distributed the
gifts. The children were clearly
impressed, and quickly encircled
Santa, stroking his beard and
hugging his wide girth. When he
sat down he was surrounded by all
the children, each one of whom
wanted to be as close as possible.
The had made an all-out
-effort to collect donations, in
cluding gifts ot money which was
used to provide an individual gift
for each child, including such
things as batons, dolls and trucks.
Each child also received a
personalized bag which contained
a new hairbrush and comb, a new
toothbrush and toothpaste and
other goodies. There was a small
crocheted stocking which con
tained livesavers. Both these items
were prepared by Ruby Mentzer, a
friend of the club. Santa’s wife had
made a larger stocking for each
child containing an apple, an
orange and a candy cane.
Club members had also pur
chased numerous "house gifts”
with the money they received. The
children were thrilled with the
opening of camera equipment,
electric popcorn popper, electronic
games and hair dryers.
The smiles of appreciation from
the children made one know that
all the etfort ot the 4-H’ers had
been worthwhile. There were
shouts of "Look what 1 got,” and
“How can I ever thank you?” and
(Turn to Page B 18)
They squeezed as dose as they could, to be surprises,
near that jolly old soul who brought them many
for the Christ Home for Children in Paradise. Eager 4-H’ers '
reach out to help deliver the goods into the Home itself to the
waiting young residents, who range in age from 9 months to
13 years.
Shane and friend talk over this business of Christmas gifts,
apparently to the satisfaction of each.
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