Dec 15, 2002 By Patty Shultz 3 min read

Santa Claus and his elves, along with the Grinch, brought holiday cheer to local children during a Christmas outing Saturday in Uniontown. “The line gets longer each year,” said Jennifer Kessler, vice president of Three Rivers Health Plan of Monroeville, which sponsored the event. The Uniontown Fire Department’s social hall was filled with children, waving their balloons as they waited for Santa to arrive.

The hall has been the gathering place for the annual event since 1996, when the firm’s employees discovered the greatest concentration of its clients were based in Fayette County. The Monroeville firm administers the MedPLUS state health insurance programs for needy adults and the Children’s Health Care Program (CHIP) for needy youngsters.

“We wanted to do something for the kids,” said Kessler. “Someone suggested a Christmas party and that’s how it got started.”

The festivities began shortly before 11 a.m. with Santa and his helpers sitting atop a fire truck drove along Beeson Avenue waving to the cheering crowd.

As Santa made his way to his seat of honor, parents and children were encouraged to look through tables filled with used toys and clothing to see if they were in need of any of the donated items.

“We send out a company-wide e-mail and everyone sends something to us,” said Kessler.

Volunteer Mandy Pilarski has been taking part in the holiday program since it was initiated and finds it difficult to make it through the day without shedding tears.

“You just want to take them all home,” she said as she began painting a snowflake on the face of a 10-year-old Uniontown girl.

Five-year-old Robbie and his three-year-old brother J.J. looked over their decorated stocking refrigerator magnets they had completed at the craft tables.

“I’m going to give mine to my mommy,” said Robbie. “It’s pretty and she’ll like it.”

Little ones took time at the cookie table to add icing and colored sprinkles to Christmas trees and Santa cutouts, donated by a local grocery store.

“Everyone is so generous,” said Kessler. “We call them and they ask us what we need.”

While the boys and girls took part in various activities, the longest line was to visit with Santa.

“It has stretched out the door all day,” said Kessler.

After the youngsters shared their secret Christmas wishes, elves escorted them to an area where they could select a new toy to take home.

In addition to the Christmas activities, MedPLUS volunteers also manned tables offering instructions related to dental care for children and pre-natal care for new mothers while others distributed bags of chips and pretzels.

Members of the Uniontown Fire Department also donned Santa hats and reindeer antlers to lend assistance to the 75 MedPLUS volunteers.

Kessler estimated over 1,000 children and parents would take part in the activities throughout the day.

“Many parents tell us this may be the only new thing they get for Christmas,” she said. “It’s a lot of work to put this together, but it’s worth it to see all the smiles.”