Springtime Santas bring toys, hugs to West Side students
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It was Christmas in May at West Side School Tuesday morning thanks to a group of dedicated Santas from Santa America. Three Santas and Mrs. Claus distributed toys and stuffed animals to every pre-kindergarten through second grade student.
"This is just their way of giving back after our recent tornado," said West Side Primary School Principal Scott Dewar. "Events like this help us cope."
Santa Paul and his wife, Mrs. Claus, of Bethalto, organized the event. Santa Ken of Wood River and Santa Dave of Madison also participated in the donation.
"We have fun being Santa. What people don't realize is that being Santa is almost a full-time job," said Santa Paul.
Santa Paul said Santa America is a non-profit organization that started by providing support to children with serious illnesses, but have since expanded their mission.
"They've just recently gotten into disaster relief," he said. "It's very new. We organized as quickly as we could."
The Santas collected toys, stuffed animals and cash donations for the event, then contacted Jerry King, of Harrisburg STORM. He set them up with Dewar, who organized a day for the Santas to come distribute the toys to students at West Side.
Every student got to pick out both a toy and a stuffed animal from the large selection. The squeals of excitement and running-leap hugs made it clear the kids were all very excited to see Santa.
"Because they were in the community when this happened, we brought something for everyone," said Santa Paul. "And we try to bring it with a big Santa hug."
Several Harrisburg High School students who are involved in Future Business Leaders of America also helped with the event.
"It's just a good feeling to help these little kids," said Jose Durbin, who will be the FBLA president for the 2012-2013 school year.
King said he thought the event was successful and hopes the students appreciate the toys they were given, as the community as a whole still struggles to recover from the Feb. 29 tornado diaster.
"Part of this is the hug and joy they bring with it," said King.