When it comes to gift wrapping for the Magic of Christmas, we usually ask that parents attend with their Anna’s Kindness student volunteer to ensure presents are wrapped, you know, pretty well.
But after watching our student volunteers wrap gifts Friday night, they are ready to strike out on their own.
Nearly a dozen Anna’s Kindness volunteers and their parents helped wrap gifts for children in need on Friday, helping wrap hundreds of gifts in less than two hours. The Magic of Christmas coordinators will give those gifts to local law enforcement, who will deliver those gifts to children who might otherwise have little on Christmas Day.
And those gifts were wrapped well. Paper was cut to the right length, corners were folded down and taped flat, you could bounce a quarter off the wrapped presents, they were wrapped that tightly.
A number of moms came with their students, including Clague 6th grader Lola Valentin, Forsythe 7th graders Matthew Zollner (who tackled some of the largest presents in the room) and Joshua Hetrick, and Slauson 6th grader Lex Bassett-Kennedy. By the end of the night, the boys had impressed their moms with the skillful wrapping (“Lex can wrap presents for our whole family now,” said his mom Carol).
Clague 6th grader Lola Valentin and Forsythe 7th grader Riley Howe walked in ready to wrap, found a good spot on the row of tables, and quickly got down to business with their moms.
Clague 7th grader Ashon Carter and 8th grader Odein Orubibi were representing their school colors while wrapping with the families. As the presents got increasingly larger, Ashon took to the floor to cut and wrap the gifts.
Not all of our volunteers were first-timers serving with the Magic of Christmas. One of Anna’s friends from middle school and current Ann Arbor Pioneer sophomore Hayley Marchand and Melanie Valtadoros were back wrapping for the third straight year as Anna’s Kindness volunteers.
A special thanks to Hayley’s parents Fran and Chuck for helping coordinate Friday night’s event. And thank you to Debbie Williams-Hoak for permitting us to help with her terrific charity to help children in need have a wonderful Christmas.
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