A Day of Giving

December Hess, 7, chats with Santa after receiving her stocking full of goodies at the Sandy Community Action Center.

In the mad shuffle of distributing 350 food boxes to families within the greater Sandy area, there was bound to be a mishap or two.

As the number of Sandy Kiwanis Christmas Baskets dwindled late the morning of Saturday, Dec. 15, volunteers realized that some families marked for two boxes received only one, or that a household didn’t get any toys.

Sandy Fire Chief Gary McQueen, his sons Ryan and Justin, and Ryan’s friend, Ryan Callahan, were on the job.

In the chief’s rig, the quartet drove around the Bluff area, completing four different families’ baskets.

They were welcomed with as much appreciation and joy as the first delivery group.

“This will make our Christmas,” said one woman at the Pioneer Mobile Home Park. “We are very low income right now. This will really help. You have no idea – thank you.”

“Merry Christmas,” McQueen replied.

This kind of yuletide joy played out 350 times around the community last weekend as an army of volunteers distributed the Kiwanis Christmas Baskets, fueled by local donations and the can-collecting efforts of local schools. Residents in need were able to receive boxes filled with food (perishable and non-perishable) and hygiene items. Families with children also received toys. Thanks to the Sandy Optimist Club, bicycles were available to those who wanted them.

Sylvia Courtain was one of the beneficiaries of the program.

“I thought I was going to be OK,” said the church receptionist. “But when I had to pay $235 after my car was towed, I said, ‘Well, I guess I need to do something.’ I wasn’t planning on this.”

Less than an hour after she picked up her own Christmas Basket from St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Courtain found herself on the other side of giving, volunteering for the Sandy Community Action Center during its annual Santa Claus Day.

A regular volunteer, Courtain doesn’t think twice about paying it forward.

“I love the giving more than the getting,” she said. “I think everyone should get involved. There are so many people hurting in this town. Even if I’m hurting, there are so many more people who are hurting worse.”

She stood at the end of the line of parents and grandparents who had picked out gifts from a massive pile of toys in the back room of the Action Center, making sure everyone had what he or she needed. The toys – donated by members of the community via giving trees at Fred Meyer and Sandy High School – made for a merrier Christmas for these low-income families.

“It’s awesome,” said one mother in line who didn’t want to be identified. “As a single mom, it really helps a lot.”

Added another mom: “It’s pretty good, because I wouldn’t have any Christmas gifts for my children if not for this.”

While parents secretly sorted through the toys in the back room, children waited in a long line that snaked through the Action Center to meet Santa Claus and get a stocking full of goodies and hygiene products.

When 9-year-old Renee Richmond asked Santa for a Tamagotchi digital pet for Christmas, he told her what he told each of the 400 children who had face time with him: “I can’t promise you anything, but I will surprise you.”