Gifts spread joy among needy

Jacqueline Palencia, 7, gets cold at night. She sleeps in her day clothes, on the floor. And only occasionally does she have a blanket.

Many other students at Lincoln Elementary School share her same story. Some are often hungry, and for them Christmas morning isn't always accompanied by a tree and piles of gifts.

But Thursday, Utah Central Credit Union and a packed U-Haul left the school's 600 students smiling, squealing and wide-eyed well into the day.

More than 1,200 individualized gifts arrived at the school Thursday marked for each child's needs and wants.

Jacqueline received warm fleece pajamas, a princess Barbie and boots.

The pajamas, she said, "are going to make me warm at night."

"I got my dream, I love all of them" said Flor Lee, 8, who unwrapped a singing Barbie, a hat and gloves and a Care Bear pillow she couldn't quit hugging — all in her favorite colors of purple and pink.

Barbies and trucks were fun, but the kids were equally excited about shoes, socks, shirts, sleeping bags and even a simple candy cane.

Some kids hugged, some cried and a few agreed with one boy's claim that "this is the luckiest day of my life." But a handful of students opted to hold off ripping into the gifts until Christmas morning so they could take their gifts home and put them under their tree.

More than 90 percent of Lincoln's students live at or below the poverty line. And principal Shannon Andersen said some of them don't even have a Christmas.

UCCU is in its ninth year of bringing Christmas cheer to the school. The project started when Mark Young, the credit union's executive vice president, was scouting out some families in need for the company's service project. He discovered that nearly the entire school lived in poverty — some even coming from homeless shelters — and decided the credit union needed to find a way to provide for the whole student body.

But playing Santa for an entire school is no small feat. Brett Blackburn, UCCU president, said each year the process generally starts in late October.

Students submitted to their teachers a Christmas "want" and a "need," which were recorded on ornaments crafted by the children.

Those ornaments decorate trees in UCCU's five branches. Credit union members, employees and other community members chipped in and purchased some of the presents to satisfy the wishes on the ornaments.