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Playing Santa: Local children receive Christmas gifts

By Olivia Goudy ogoudy@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Kindergartner Justin Etheridge, 6, is shocked to receive a set of Hot Wheels, which he specifically had asked Santa for, from State Police Sergeant Joseph D’Andrea, who came to D.W. Clark Elementary School for his 19th year of giving away toys with the Gifts for Fayette County Kids program. See story and more photos on C1.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Tyler Brangard, 8, a third-grader at R.W. Clark Elementary School in North Union Township, and state police Sgt. Joseph D’Andrea, go over the rules (always wear a helmet) for Tyler’s new bike he got from Gifts for Kids of Fayette County, which Sergeant D’Andrea has headed up for 19 years.

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Nina D’Andrea, 16, a sophomore at Laurel Highlands High School, gives a Barbie to Khloe Clark, 5, a kindergartner at R.W. Clark Elementary School in North Union Township. D’Andrea was at the school with her father, State Police Sgt. Joseph D’Andrea.

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Wyatt Doyle, 6, and Daniel O’Neal, 7, compare matchbox sets they got for Christmas through the Gifts for Fayette County Kids program.

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Victoria Patton shows Autumn Gribble, 7, her new Barbie doll as Lucas Deguia, 6, looks on in disbelief. Patton is a clerk with the State Police.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Nina D’Andrea, 16, a sophomore at Laurel Highlands High School, gives a set of Hot Wheels to Jonah Coleman, 5, a kindergartener at R.W. Clark Elementary School in North Union Township. D’Andrea was at the school with her father, State Police Sergeant Joseph D’Andrea, who was contributing in his 19th year with the Gifts for Fayette County Kids program.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

State Police Sgt. Joseph D’Andrea talks to third-grader Righteous Richardson, 8, after giving her a new bike.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

State Police Sergeant Joseph D’Andrea shows Jeremy Wargo, 5, his set of Hot Wheels in Ms. Brewer’s kindergarten class at R.W. Clark Elementary School in North Union Township. Friday was Sergeant D’Andrea’s 19th year of giving out toys through the Gifts for Fayette County Kids program.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Mike Rozgony, principal of Laurel Highlands Middle School, loads up his car with presents to give to needy families. Jessica Scott, Assistant Principal at the middle school, organized 40 Wishes During the Holidays to solicit presents from local donors, and ended up collecting for more than 50 kids. Some parents picked their presents up at the South Union Township Municipal Building, and others who couldn’t make it had their presents delivered by volunteer drivers like Rozgony.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

From left, Emma Scott and her cousins Alana and Addison Weimer, 9, all of Uniontown, help wrap presents for Forty Wishes During the Holiday, which Emma’s mom, Laurel Highlands Middle School assistant principal Jessica Scott, organized to give gifts to children who needed them. The recipients’ parents picked up the presents on Saturday morning at the South Union Township municipal building

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Mike Rozgony (left), principal at Laurel Highlands Middle School, Addison Weimer, 9, and Jessica Scott, assistant principal at LHMS, load up Rozgony’s car to deliver presents to some of the families helped by 40 Wishes During the Holiday. Scott organized the effort, which ended up overshooting its goal.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Alana Weimer, 9, helps Paul Eckert, a history teacher at Laurel Highlands Middle School, load up presents to drop off to needy families. 40 Wishes During the Holiday was organized by Jessica Scott, assistant principal at Laurel Highlands Middle School, and gave away presents to more than 50 kids.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Jeremy Shields of Uniontown, a single father to three, loads up his car with gifts for his children — two boys, ages 12 and 4, and an 11-year-old girl. Shields was overwhelmed with the number of presents that 40 Wishes During the Holiday gave him to surprise his children.

Countless families will gather around the Christmas tree tomorrow morning, tearing through wrapping paper to uncover what lies beneath, and thanks to the selfless generosity of several groups in Fayette County, some of those who may not have that luxury are enjoying that tradition this holiday season.

One South Union Township couple used their connections in the community to ensure that at least 40 area children were recipients of the community’s kindness through their 40 Wishes During the Holiday campaign.

“We started our program 40 days before Christmas with the idea of posting a needy child every day to be sponsored by someone in the community,” said Jessica Scott. She and her husband, township supervisor Jason Scott, were overwhelmed by the flood of support and gifts that came through, causing them to increase the amount of recipients to 55.

Jessica, the assistant principal at the Laurel Highlands Middle School, said they reached out to local school districts to compile a list of children who were less fortunate this holiday season. After gathering demographics and seeking parental permission, the Scotts began posting wishlists for the children in late November and collecting donations at the township’s municipal building.

“The parents then came on Saturday to pick up the gifts, and it was up to them to say who it’s from, whether it’s their parents, or Santa, or whoever — we don’t want them to know it’s charity,” Jessica Scott said. “We want to help change the childrens’ perceptions; they don’t have to live in an impoverished environment.”

Jessica Scott described the program as a “bigger version of the Angel Tree.” Each child received between 15 and 20 gifts, including clothing essentials and toys. She said they also tried their best to fulfill one large gift wish for each child, after consulting with the parents for ideas.

“This is our first year doing this, and we didn’t quite know how it would go. But to see the amount of gifts and donations we’ve received — it’s amazing. It’s bringing light and positivity to our area,” Jessica said, adding that one sponsor even bought 26 gifts for just one child, while larger corporations, like Verizon and Columbia Gas, donated more than $3,500 to sponsor several children.

The goal next year is to aim for 100 students, Jessica said.

Also doing their part in the community to distribute gifts to children and build a positive rapport with them in turn are the state police.

Since 1997, more than 52,000 toys have been given to children throughout Fayette County on behalf of PSP’s Gift for Kids program.

Sgt. Joseph D’Andrea said the reward far outweighs the work that’s put into it.

“All of the work we do is worth it when you see the kids’ faces and their excitement,” said D’Andrea. While visiting the R.W. Clark Elementary School last Friday, including a kindergarten class, D’Andrea said the students were overjoyed with the presents and joked that it probably ruined their lessons for the day.

“It’s also important to build a better relationship with the kids in our community, so that they know, at a young age, that (the police are) there to help them,” D’Andrea said.

Fayette County students have been benefactors of the program since the early 1980s, when it began with around 300 to 500 toys each year. Though program head Sgt. John Arminas was killed in a traffic accident in 1997, the program continued, and after a few modifications the following year, the program began to thrive once again.

In addition to the numerous gifts provided to the students, one child is also gifted a bicycle and helmet at each school. This year, D’Andrea said, they were able to gift two bikes in each of the four schools they visited this year, in addition to two donated bikes.

“It’s a great way to reach the kids, and the gifts we give them might be the only one, or one of the very few, they get this year,” D’Andrea said, adding that this year, they gave out between 1,000 and 1,500 toys.

“It’s difficult, because we need a uniformed trooper at the school whenever we give out the presents, but it’s definitely worth it,” he continued.

Though D’Andrea is close to retirement, he’s hopeful that a fellow trooper will take the reigns on the program. This year in particular was special for D’Andrea as his daughter Nina, a cheerleader and sophomore at Laurel Highlands High School, accompanied him on the trip last Friday.

“My daughter always helped sort out toys and whatnot when she was younger, but this year, she got so much more from it. She could actually meet the children whom the toys were going out to,” D’Andrea said. “We could really bask in the reward of giving toys to young children.”

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