ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512190006
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
Santa needs help. Every year, he and his elves (and Mrs. Santa, too) have a harder time keeping up with all the requests they get. So, Santa calls on angels to be his secret helpers. Some of these angels might be sitting near you in school or are in your Scout troop or live in your neighborhood.
They might be the Tiger Cubs, all first-graders, who meet at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Roanoke. The boys bought gifts for children who live across the ocean. All the presents had to be smaller than a shoe box because the shoe boxes will be shipped overseas to children in war-torn Bosnia.
``I put in Legos, toothbrushes and toothpaste,'' said Jeff Metz. ``I know the children live very far away and are very poor. They don't have toys or anything.''
``I gave up some of my own toys,'' said Tiger Cub Brian Hodges. ``I put in a Dracula toy, a lizard and a penguin and some other stuff. It was good to help the Bosnian kids.''
Angels can be all different ages and sizes. At Green Valley Elementary School in Roanoke County, Ashley Otey and her fellow fifth-graders are "adopting" an angel off an angel tree at a mall. In Blacksburg, Daniel Harper's classmates at Kipps Elementary also are buying presents for a kid whose name had been placed on an angel tree.
At William Byrd Middle School, a group of eighth-graders called Natural Helpers are year-round angels. They are students who have been selected to help other students with their problems, fellow students who will listen and give them ideas or suggestions for support.
At this time of year, the Natural Helpers are buying gifts for Nicole, a girl whose name they chose from an angel tree. Nicole asked only for a pair of sneakers for Christmas.
``I was kind of surprised. I figured she'd ask for something besides sneakers,'' said Beth Wagner, a Natural Helper. ``We'll get her the sneakers, but we'll get her some fun things, too. It feels good to know I've helped somebody.''
``Christmas for me means being with family. It's important to remember there are some kids without families and who might not be having a good Christmas,'' said Kim Andrews, another Natural Helper.
Samantha Davidson, doesn't know Emily, but she's buying her a Christmas present, anyway.
Paul Nevin has never met Hannah, but said she ``seems adventurous.''
Samantha and Paul are pupils at Oak Grove Elementary School in Roanoke County. Each class has chosen an ``angel,'' about the age of the kids in their class, to buy presents for. Paul, in fifth grade, said Hannah asked for a Game Boy, good clothes and a Walkman.
``Sometimes I see kids walking around without warm jackets,'' Paul said. ``I think it's pretty neat for us to be helping them.''
Samantha says she thinks it's a ``good idea to help other people because they're less fortunate and they don't get a lot of stuff they want.'' Samantha's fourth-grade class is buying Emily clothes, tapes and the book, ``A Light in the Attic,'' which she asked for.
Julie Ann Harmon, in the fifth grade, said her teacher is collecting money for a Walkman that the class' angel, Corinne, wants. ``I bought her things I'd like to have,'' Julie said.
Israel Marques, fifth-grader, says he is glad to help his angel, Randy, get some of the sports equipment he wants. ``It makes me feel good because I know he's going to have a happy Christmas,'' Israel said.
In each classroom at Oak Grove there's a brightly decorated box large enough to hold a TV. Every year, the boxes are overflowing with gifts before it's time for them to be collected and sent to the children who are known only by their names and what they wish for. A group of second-graders wrote poems to their angel and pasted them on their box.
Annie Campbell, a fifth-grader and SCA president at Oak Grove, said her class is putting its money together to buy a bike or Nintendo for its angel, Zachary. ``We're also collecting canned food in each class,'' she said. ``Each student can paste a cotton ball on a Santa beard or hat when they bring in a can of food.''
The beards on the Santas posted on the walls next to the classroom doors were already partly filled in with cotton balls.
Across town, there were few decorations at the West End Center where kids come after school. It's a safe, warm place in the middle of one of Roanoke's toughest, poorest neighborhoods.
The smiles of the children there are just as bright as those in any neighborhood and they look forward to Christmas with just as much anticipation. But some of them will be disappointed on Christmas morning.
Some of them will not be with their own families, but in temporary foster homes, with families who have agreed to take them in for a while. For many reasons, they are not able to stay with their parents. Some will not have any presents to open, much less a tree.
For them, Christmas is just another day - or worse, a day that should be one of the happiest of the year, but isn't.
On one cold December day, a girl who looked to be about 10 years old was outside on the playground with some friends. Although the temperature was in the 20s and the wind was blustery, she wore only a thin jacket, one some children would wear on a spring day.
Maybe her name is Corinne or Emily or Hannah.
``I want all of these kids to have a good Christmas,'' said Kay Hale, director of the West End Center in Roanoke. ``There are more children every year who need help and less money to help them with. I don't know what I'm going to do.
``A lot of these kids won't admit they're poor,'' she said. ``If it weren't for a church group that's been taking care of his family for the past five or six years, that boy over there wouldn't have a stitch of clothing on his back.
``If you could see their [the children's] faces when they open their presents, you'd know how wonderful it is for them to receive the gifts donated here.''
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Oak Grove Elementary first-gradersby CNBJacob Highfill (left) and Matt Partsch glue cotton balls on Santa's
beard. A donated can of food will buy you a cotton ball at Oak
Grove. color.