CHRISTMAS WITH THE BLUE

When Harvey came blowing through Galveston County,
La Marque School District took a tremendous hit with the
loss of their buildings which housed their Early Childhood
Development Program. What do you do with hundreds of
children who already suffer from all the disadvantages
that come with low income, often single parent, special
needs children that have no place to go to school? Turns
out you send them to Calvin Center for Early Childhood
Development. And what a remarkable place it is!
Spending the day with classroom after classroom of
well-behaved children is borderline life altering to begin
with. And considering each of these classrooms was being
visited by Santa made the experience even more
remarkable. From classroom to classroom, each child
had an opportunity to visit with Santa and each and every
child received a Christmas gift as well.
As we walked from classroom to classroom, we saw
children travelling the halls, “blowing bubbles” and walking
on a red line, quietly moving from classroom to playground
or lunchroom. In the rooms they sat on numbered
rugs with instructions to “Criss Cross Applesauce” their
legs as they waited for their gifts. As each child’s name
was called to get up and receive their gift from Santa,
the other children cheered loudly,
calling out their friend’s names and
waiting patiently for their own name
to be called.
And how was all this happening?
The Texas City Police Department
partnered with the Texas City
Municipal Court and the Galveston
County Food Bank to provide meals
for the Texas City and
La Marque families of
the children who attend
Calvin Center and provide
gifts to the almost
350 children there.
Chief Robert Burby and the Texas
City Police Officers along with
Allen Edinburgh as Santa, along
with assistance from the Texas
Citizens Police Alumni and employees
of the Texas City Municipal
Court had a great time helping
deliver the gifts to the classrooms
while Ms Monica Jones and the
Texas City Police Explorers handed
out full meals to the parents of
these children; all of whom were
affected by Harvey.
“The initial desire of Jeanie Brooks of
Calvin Vincent Early Childhood Center
and Corporal Lorenzo de la Garza of the
Texas City PD , with the assistance of Principal
Susan Wilson, to help the children
and their families developed into a plan
that became “Christmas with the Blue”.