The kids from the Salesian Center Boys and Girls Club get two presents: one for them and one to give to someone else.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published December 19, 2003
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
Santa Claus, played by Jack Guggino, a pediatric ophthalmologist with Guggino Family Eye Center in Tampa, talks to Vallie Joseph, 7, during the Touched by an Angel Christmas Party at the eye center.
PARKLAND ESTATES - It was Judy Guggino's birthday party, but she wasn't the guest of honor. There was a huge pile of presents, but none were for her.
For the third year in a row, Guggino and her husband celebrated her birthday by treating a group of underprivileged kids to the best Christmas they ever had.
"Judy's birthday is Dec. 18, and the party came out of her desire to make people happy," said her husband, Tampa pediatric ophthalmologist Jack Guggino. "She has a knack for knowing when people need something, and she's always there. But what's closest to her heart is children."
Santa Claus stopped by the party - held Saturday at the Guggino Family Eye Center on Swann Avenue - and stated the theme succinctly: "The best way to make yourself happy is to make someone else happy."
Even though it was Judy Guggino's birthday celebration, it was all about the kids from the Salesian Center Boys and Girls Club in Tampa Heights.
The center at 302 W Gladys St. offers after-school classes and recreational activities to neighborhood children. The Gugginos, with help from the Salesian Sisters who run the center with the Boys and Girls Club staff, invite kids with the greatest needs to the party.
Unlike many holiday charity events around town, last weekend's Touched by an Angel Christmas Party had some twists. The kids spent the day with the grown-ups who provided their gifts. They also went home with gifts to give someone else, learning firsthand the joy of giving.
"To me, the whole beauty is that it opens everybody's hearts up, the adults and the children," said Lisa Semeyn, the Salesian center's development associate.
The Gugginos asked family members, friends and friends-of-friends to sponsor the children - or become "angels." Judy Guggino tried to solicit young adults, mostly without kids of their own, so they could experience the Christmas spirit.
Each adult sponsored one child. Sponsors wore their child's picture around their neck, and they found each other in the lobby of the eye center when the party started.
Two years ago, the party benefited eight children. Last year, as more sponsors heard about the event, the number grew to 40. This year there were 52.
"I don't have kids of my own, so this is the first time in years I've felt this whole sense of Christmas," said Carol Silver, a first-time sponsor. "You see these kids and you think, this is what it's all about. This is what Christmas should be."
The party included pizza, face painting and music (provided this year by singer/guitarist Jack Frost, a.k.a. George Aldrich) and a visit from Santa (a.k.a. Jack Guggino). All of the children received gifts - painted tiles with messages of gratitude - they can put under a tree for a parent, caregiver, sibling or friend.
Then it was their turn to get presents.
Before the party, each child wrote letters to Santa telling him what they wanted for Christmas. Then, Santa Guggino arranged for them to go to Toys "R" Us, where their toys were waiting for them.
Sponsors bought the children the gifts at the Toys "R" Us on Dale Mabry Highway, which offered a discount. Kids picked GI Joes, Barbie dolls, boom boxes, CDs, stuffed animals and Hot Wheels. Each received at least one present, some two or three.
This year, some of the sponsors went beyond their child's wish lists. Anthony Garcia, who sponsored a boy named Reggie, gave him Buccaneer tickets.
"I wasn't sure if he liked the Bucs or not," Garcia said. "But we got in line for the face painters and I asked, "What do you want on your face?' and he said, "A Bucs flag."'
So it wasn't just the kids who experience the joy of giving. The sponsors felt it, too.
"It's a friendship that develops," Garcia said. "I can go to the center and visit Reggie. When you see these kids, see them smile, that makes a lasting impression."
- For information on how to help children at the Salesian Center Boys and Girls Club, call 226-0010.
