The pademic put a damper on Avon Co-operative Nursery School's community involvement for a time, but the local nursery school is planning more activities, and welcomed families to visit for their Chrismas Magic event on Saturday.
It was a big success: more than 100 children had a chance to decorate cookies, make crafts, mingle with friends and, of course, get a photo with Santa Claus. The images were printed out on the spot and placed in a folder card for instant memories.
Cassie Moore, fundraising and community events chair, said the nursery's board of directors made the decision to start organzing more community events and they wanted a low-cost, holiday celebration for families.
"We wanted to get the kids out and have some fun," Moore said.
The original plan included a $10 fee to offset costs, however, some community generosity took care of the bills.
"Two amazing sponsors came up and completely covered the costs to families," Moore said. "We were able to provide the event for the kids for absolutely free."
Contributions from AWC Manufacturing and the Hayton/Rose family covered expenses.
Jordanne Rose, a member of the Hayton/Rose family and the nursery's board secretary, works for AWC Manufacturing and asked what they could do to help.
Moore was told, "These COVID babies need to have some Christmas magic, so let's make it happen."
Moore said flyers were sent out with the fee attached and when she called families to let them know the event would now be free, there was overwhelming appreciation. One family with six children reached out to Moore to let her know they could now attend.
"Some families are struggling. We didn't want anyone missing out on seeing Santa."
"There were some things that we wanted to add some pizzaz, and our sponsors donations allowed us to do that."
Moore was joined by nursery school staff members and their families on Saturday.
Next year is Avon Co-op Nursery School's 70th anniversary and Moore said they are building up to that, continuing to foster community relationships.
"It took three months of planning (for Saturday). We picked the date in August, we had some other fundraisers to work on. In the middle of October, we really dug in to work on this one."
To avoid long waiting periods, organizers scheduled out timeslots for the main event: pictures with Santa.
Moore's son, Spencer, who is non-verbal autistic, might have summed up the joy when the normally shy youngster lept into Santa's lap.
"He had the biggest smile," his mom said.
