PATERSON It was the feeling a lot like Christmas morning on Dec. 13 — more than 600 times over at Father English Community Center here, a diocesan Catholic Charities agency — as students from Delbarton School in Morristown played Santa Claus to children living in Paterson, who are served by the center.
With stacks of brand new unwrapped toys, games and other gifts that could rival any Santa shop, 650 children, from infants to teens, looked around the auditorium in Father English with wonder and awe at the more than 2,000 gifts the Delbarton students from grades 7-12 collected during the school’s Christmas Gift Drive, an annual tradition at Delbarton for 30 years.
David Hajduk, campus minster, told the students before the Father English children arrived, “These guests coming today are your brothers and sisters, they just happened to have some challenges and we’re trying to be brothers for them. We welcome everyone as Christ would and treat them as if they were Christ. With openness and love, we are to be Christ to them.”
Because of the generosity of students, alumni, staff and families at Delbarton, the children, who attend the two pre-schools and the after-school program at Father English, along with their siblings, were able to pick-out three gifts to open on Christmas morning.
The joy was contagious among the children and their parents, many of whom are having difficulty providing gifts for their children on Christmas. Irma Alvarez, who was with her four-year-old grandson, Jordan Montalvo, said, “I feel so happy and excited for the children. The students at Delbarton were really kind to do this for us.”
Another toy recipient, Anthony Baez, 9, picked out two games — Battleship and an air hockey board. “I like the presents I got a lot!,” he exclaimed with a big smile.
Because so many toys were collected, the Friday before the delivery, the whole student body organized the toys between boys and girls’ gifts and into four separate age ranges — infants, toddlers, children and teens. They then loaded up an 18-wheeler parked outside the school for delivery to Father English the following Sunday. On Sunday, more than 50 students, parent volunteers and staff members from Delbarton attended a Mass at 7:30 a.m. before heading to Paterson to deliver the gifts. When they arrived at Father English, they organized the gifts, enjoyed a pizza lunch and awaited the arrival of the families, who created a line that was a block-long outside the center.
Dan Cimaglia, a senior at Delbarton School and student body president, said, “It’s great we are able to give back and the Delbarton community is always so willing to give. I kept thinking what other school in the country does this? When you hand out these gifts and see the kids’ faces, it makes me feel good and it makes me think about my own Christmas morning when we open our presents and how privileged we are.”
In addition to Delbarton School, 300 gifts were collected from Liberty Corner School in Basking Ridge and two corporations supported the gift drive — the Hess Corporation donated 500 of its toy trucks, which are released every Christmas season and BJ’s Wholesale Club donated four pallets of food for Father English’s Food Pantry.
Deacon Robert Head, site director at Father English, said, “All I could say, is ‘Wow!’ We have been planning the gift drive with David Hadjuk to ensure we had gifts for every child at Father English and their siblings. This goes beyond our expectations. The gifts go on and on. We have never seen anything like this at Father English.”