PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The holidays are a little brighter for some families at Baldi Middle School in Bustleton, thanks to the generosity of the school community.
When the staff at Baldi learned a private company would no longer be adopting needy Baldi families this year, they decided to do it themselves. Donations from teachers, counselors and Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church totaled $2,850.
On Monday, the staff fanned out to deliver personalized presents, meals and grocery gift cards to 14 families.
Baldi dean of students for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades Philip Carr said the appreciation was immediate.
“I delivered the presents and a kid FaceTimed me within 10 minutes,” he told KYW Newsradio.
Carr also dropped off boxes of food and bags of presents at 15-year-old Jeremiah Santa’s house in Fox Chase.
“I asked my mom, ‘can I open my gifts early’ and she said, ‘yeah,’ so we opened them and there was like all this good stuff,” Jeremiah said. “Like, clothes for me and my little brother, he got my mom a bracelet. He got me an Xbox card and a hoodie. He got me a lot of good stuff. I really appreciate it.”
He said coronavirus precautions kept him from fully showing his gratitude to Carr.
“I wish I could have shown more appreciation besides just saying thank you, but with the COVID stuff going on I know everybody’s taking it seriously so I didn’t want to put anybody in harm’s way,” Santa said.
The deliveries may have been socially distant, but eighth grade counselor Joyce Stavrakis said they were emotionally close.
“Just to see their smiles and the joy that we bring to them. We, as a staff and our friends and family and everybody who donated — just to see the joy on their faces in such a year that's been so difficult for them," she said.