Lost in Wonderland: Secret Santa for The Holidays By Rich and Shannon

Scene:

Holidays season. Decorated inside with Christmas decorations. Light Snow outside and cold. Temperature 39 degrees and Cloudy.

Script:

Everyone has favorite memories of the Holiday Season. Pause a moment and pull up yours. Do you ever recall Secret Santa? I am sure you do, but did you know that Secret Santa is programs for Foster Children sponsored by the Department of Social Services to help children in foster homes have a brighter Christmas? No? Most people don’t?” NYS has 25,397 children in foster care on any given day. (Adopt para. 21). That is of the 400,000 that nationally spread through the United States. Image how many children go without the magic of Christmas?

When we think of Secret Santa, often we think of the participation at schools, businesses or other places where people work and play together within the community. It is not very often we consider the children in the Foster Care system. In truth, these children often get overlooked as better off seen and not heard. Obviously, they are in the system for a reason, yes? (Give some reasons) Children in Foster Care not only have their own stories to tell, but need to know that people out there care enough that they exist and matter. This will help guide children to make the right decisions in the future, for their future helps to create our future.

You do not need to purchase expensive toys for these children. Believe me, I know. I was once one of these children. Let me tell you a story. When I was only 8 years old living in Kingston, New York, our social worker came with a pile of Christmas presents. My brothers and I had no idea where these presents came from, but it seemed magical to us. It mattered not how much the cost of the Barbie I received was, or if the G.I Joes my brothers opened up were genuine G.I. Joes. What counted in the end was being able to unwrap those gifts and the magic of feeling we had a Christmas to celebrate. Another time when I was 14, a Secret Santa brought me a Unicorn. This Unicorn traveled with me through various foster homes losing a leg, a wing, even a horn, but it never lost its magic.

You do not need to go very far to find out how to participate in such a program. Simply call your local Department of Social Services and ask if they have a Secret Santa program for their Foster Children. I never found out who our Santa was, but take the opportunity to bring the magic of Christmas to a child’s life and let them feel that someone, somewhere, cares. House of Rep. Democrat and Congressman, Jim McDermontt says it best in this moving statement concerning the lost children of America “We are going to be able to take better care of America’s most vulnerable children because of the major reforms contained in this legislation, and we are clearly telling these children they are not alone in America and they can grow up in a loving, caring home with a chance at the American Dream.” (Voice 29)