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School assignment: gift bags of delight

By ANDREW SKERRITT, Times Columnist
Published December 25, 2007

The bus and trailing vehicles drove north onto a dirt road and pulled up to a mobile home in Hudson. As the door opened, a toddler looked at the guests bearing gifts. He didn't say a word, but the glint in his eyes betrayed his excitement.

Inside, his mom, Alysha, 17, stood expectantly next to her boyfriend. The sparsely decorated Christmas tree looked lonely without presents.

But that changed in a hurry as Beth Harding, executive director of the New Port Richey Marine Institute, and several of her students walked in bearing baskets of canned food and placed gift bags dressed in seasonal colors under the tree.

In a moment, one family's prospects for a cheerful Christmas brightened.

This is an act of kindness that's never taken for granted.

Each December, the board of directors and staff at the alternative school collect money to distribute Christmas gifts and food for a holiday dinner to the families of five students.

The staff selects the students whose families are mired in the worst financial straits for the holidays.

"We wish we could help everyone," Harding said as we drove north on U.S. 19 toward Hudson to make the first delivery.

The institute's students are kids who have messed up. Some have served time; for others, it's an alternative to doing time or a requirement for probation.

Harding and her staff teach students how to learn from their mistakes. Many of them live with single moms who struggle to find and keep work. It's tough to have a happy Christmas without a paycheck.

Each of the five families receives a frozen turkey, canned vegetables and other sides for a decent Christmas dinner. But of course, the excitement comes from the brightly colored gift bags. Harding and her staff know what each person would appreciate.

"There's something for everyone but we focus on the kids," she said.

There were size 13 shoes for the two burly teens, a Dale Earnhardt Sr. T-shirt for the dad who's a race fan. One mom was treated to bath oils, soaps and bubble bath. Mikey, Alysha's son, gets a laptop that makes phonetic sounds and could help the almost 2-year-old learn words.

"This makes a big difference," Alysha said.

At each house, the reaction made the act of generosity seem more than worthwhile.

One of the last deliveries took the bus caravan to a shingled house in Moon Lake. Jeremy, 15, had gone ahead to secure the dogs to the back. As he returned to help bring the baskets of food and gifts inside, his mom's face brightened. Angela Parrent is raising Jeremy and his three siblings on her own. She works, but there's not nearly enough money left over for gifts. The family Christmas tree boasted lights but little else.

"These are the only presents," said Parrent, 44.

Today, she and the kids will wake up early to open their gifts. Since Parrent is paid time-and-a-half for the holiday, she plans to go to work. That's not a hassle; it will help pay the bills. To this mom, that's another Christmas gift for which she's thankful.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at askerritt@sptimes.com 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505.

[Last modified December 24, 2007, 20:00:47]