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Volunteers rest after elf duties
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- As a child, did you ever wonder what Santa Claus did on Christmas day? Does the old guy sleep after a night of hard work? Pick up Mrs. Claus and head to the South Pacific for a well-earned vacation? Or just kick back with a glass of eggnog and watch children open the packages he spent so many hours delivering? For the volunteers from the Family Resource Center -- Citrus County's answer to Kris Kringle and his elves -- Christmas day is a time for unwinding after many months of hard work. After spending hours delivering presents to more than 1,200 of the county's needy children, the 25th is the only time many of these people have to catch up on gift-wrapping, cooking or simply relaxing. "I take a long, hot bath," said Mary Floyd, chuckling. Floyd, who has volunteered for the center for the past nine years, delivered packages to six families this year. It takes time to coordinate a time to drop off the presents when the children aren't around, so the kids won't know the gifts didn't come straight from the North Pole, Floyd said. But knowing she makes a family's holiday easier makes all the effort worthwhile. "It relieves one of the stresses on the parents," Floyd said. "They don't have to worry about how they're going to afford Christmas this year." Floyd spent Tuesday preparing for guests and cooking a holiday feast. But her volunteer work doesn't take away from family time; her husband, Keith, and sons Cody and Paul also help at the center. Ginger West, the center's director, is still teased by her children about the year she was so wrapped up with the Christmas project she didn't have time to do her own shopping and gave pictures of gifts instead of the real thing. "I will never, never, never live that down," West said. But, like Floyd, West has turned the annual event into a family affair. This year, West's four grown children and seven grandchildren helped. The center gives presents to children who have been identified by a teacher or counselor as being in need. Others live in CASA, the county's shelter for abused women, or are under the protection of the state for abuse or neglect. The center is technically closed between Christmas and New Year's Day, but there will be little rest for West and the other volunteers. They will have to move their makeshift Santa's workshop out of its temporary headquarters in a vacant store in a shopping center on Thomas Street in Inverness. The move is an annual event for the nonprofit organization because its current headquarters are too small to handle the space demands of the Christmas project. But West looks forward to moving to more suitable quarters in the Historic Hernando School by this time next year. As guidance counselor for Crystal River Primary School, Terry Cates helps coordinate gifts for about 60 children each year through the Family Resource Center. "A lot of their families are just in transition right now, or one of their parents is out of work and doesn't have any extra money," he said. Most parents come to the school expecting to receive one or two items, Cates said. Many begin crying when presented with the big bag of gifts collected and wrapped by the volunteers. "It gives everyone a good feeling," he said.
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