Annual event had CHS Football Team shopping for deserving local children
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – A local “decades-old” program has one again come through at Christmas time to purchase gifts at Christmas time to help children have a good Christmas. The annual event has financial and tangible support from numerous sponsors to fund the program and the Chester High School Football team has stepped up for years to do the shopping for kids.
The program began decades ago when the Chester Grade School Nurse , Wellness Coordinator, and staff organized the “Adopt a Family” program in which local families, clubs, and organizations actually adopted needy families at Christmas time and purchased gifts for those families.
Back then, (early 2000’s) the sponsoring family or organization actually did the shopping for the family, wrapped the gifts, and delivered the gifts to the receiving family, often times on Christmas Eve. Gift lists were put together by the school nurse and provided to the sponsor.
Over the years, as the program evolved, several local businesses and organizations began to learn of the program and made rather large monetary donations to support the gift-buying event. It didn’t take long until the small-scale, personal event expanded to a size that required someone to shop and spend the money to serve larger groups of recipients.
At that point, the Chester High School Football Team began volunteering to do the shopping for the program. The number of recipients also expanded to today’s numbers. Chester Grade School Staff still organize and implement the program, but the increased monetary donations from local sponsors and manual support from the football team, have made the program more easily manageable.
The current program at CGS is titled “Santa’s Helpers” and is coordinated and managed by Melissa Davitz and Casey Peters. Davits is the Early Childhood Coordinator at CGS and Peters is the Speech and Language Pathologist.
When asked how they became responsible for the program, Davitz said, “It was one of those deals where there was no one else that wanted to do it and we just decided to step up and become the Co-Chairwomen. Now that we are doing it we are glad that we accepted the task because lots of children are getting gifts for Christmas as a result of the efforts of the “Santa’s Helpers” program.
Davitz said that teachers at CGS know best who might be the best candidates to be recipients of the gifts. They provide us with lists of students that would benefit from the gift-giving program. “We actually have never had to reject any child from being accepted for the program. This year we served a total of 60 children.” This is the second year for Davitz and Peters to coordinate the program.
Davitz also said, “We try to consult with the other similar local organizations that are providing the same service as us (giving Christmas gifts to children) to be sure that we all are not serving the same children. By spreading the gifts among a wider population of children, we can provide more gifts to more kids.”
“In the past, some parents were applying to as many as three or four agencies for gifts. That meant that possibly other children were not accepted for those programs because they were already full. By monitoring which kids have already received gifts, we can eliminate them from our lists and offer other kids gifts that have not already received any.”
This year, more than eight agencies, organizations or individuals contributed monetary donations or tangible items to the “Santa’s Helpers” cause to make it possible to serve 60 children. Knight Hawk Coal contributed $3,500 and Chester Wal Mart contributed $2,000 for a total of $5,500.00. Those donations made it possible to purchase gifts for 60 children purchase gifts.
Chester High School Football players converged on Chester Wal Mart to shop for the children on their lists. Applicants were asked to make a wish list and each player was given a certain amount of money to spend to purchase gifts for his assigned child.
Once players were finished shopping, the player went to the Wal Mart cashier to check out their purchases. The gifts were then taken to Chester Grade School for storage. Parents were then notified by Davitz and Peters to come to CGS to pick up their gifts. In a few circumstances, parents were unable to come to pick the gifts up, so Davits and Peters delivered those gifts to the parents.
Davitz said, “In earlier years of this project, we even wrapped the gifts before having them picked up or delivered, but the past two years, we have asked parents to take some ownership in getting their child’s gifts wrapped. That also gave them the opportunity to be involved in the experience of getting gifts for their children.”
According to Davitz, the “Love Abby” organization sponsored 16 families and provided coats, hats, gloves, shoes, clothing items, and toys. “Love Abby” provides items for Randolph County. There are a huge number of individuals who help shop and fundraise to help this charity provide its services.
State Farm Insurance sponsored five families. Their sponsorship provided coats, shoes, clothing, and toys for the families.
Ebenezer Church in Rockwood, Memorial Hospital in Chester, and St. John Church (Angel Tree) in Chester sponsored a total of 60 children by providing them with clothing and shoes.
Finally, the “Wee Care” organization in Jacob, Illinois, one community member who asked to remain anonymous, and the Chester Presbyterian Church, also made a monetary donations to help sponsor the event.
Davits said, “Chester Wal Mart was very organized this year and had everything ready to go when the football players arrived to do the shopping. We can’t say enough good things about the Wal Mart staff for all they did to make this year’s project a huge success.”
“Finally, a great big thank you to Knight Hawk Coal and Wal Mart for the very generous monetary donations with which to purchase gifts. Thank you to everyone that helped in any way. Billy Belton and his fellow coaches and players were great too! We couldn’t have done it without them!”
Jim Beers Report
Wal Mart employees and Chester High School Football players pose for a photo during the 2024 “Sant’s Helpers” shopping trip in which the YellowJacket Football Team purchased Christmas gifts for 60 children. Pictured (left to right) are Angela Kirchhofer and Jimmy Hunt, Wal Mart employees who helped check out the gifts; Billy Belton, CHS Head Football Coach; Reed Creason, player; Melissa Davitz and Casey Peters, CGS Employees and Co-Coordinators of the “Santa’s Helpers” project; Alex Blechle, player, and Trent Westbrook. Jim Beers Photo
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CHS Football players Dennis Vasquez, Tray Peters, Darias Shoemate, and Trever Keeton take time out from shopping to pose for a photo at the 2024 “Santa’s Helpers” project shopping event at the Chester Wal Mart. Jim Beers Photo
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CHS Football Players Morgan Mier, Jacob Stueve, and TaShawn Palacio shopped for kids at the 2024 “Santa’s Helpers” event in which the CHS Football Team helped purchase gifts for 60 children who were accepted into the program. Jim Beers Photo
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The Chester High School Football Team went shopping for gifts for 60 children as part of the annual “Santa’s Helpers” program. (Left to right) are Kross Jany, Assistant Coach, Daigen Hunter, Lannin Conder, and Karim Landeros. Jim Beers Photo
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Chester High School football player Trevor Keeton, a junior 5’9″, 260 Lb. lineman, seems to be mesmerized as he attempts to purchase Christmas gifts for a girl. This was part of his assignment for being assigned to shop for a female child in the 2024 “Santa’s Helpers” project that provided gifts for 60 children. Keeton eventually\y accomplished hid goal and helped make some young girl have a better Christmas. Jim Beers Photo
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Jackie Bess and Brock Fuller, Chester High School Football players pose for a photo while shopping for Christmas gifts for children accepted into the 2024 “Sant’s Helpers” project. Jim Beers Photo
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Kanon Jany, a 5’5″, 150 Lb. sophomore running back and linebacker for the Chester High School Football team appears to be proud with the basketball backboard and hoop that he purchased for his assigned child in the 2024 “Santa’s Helpers” program. CHS players shopped for 60 children this year and helped them have happier Christmases. Jim Beers Photo
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Jaden Ramirez, Kross Jany, and Zane Eggemeyer had fun shopping for gifts at the 2024 “Santa’s Helpers” event which provided 60 children with gifts this Christmas. Jim Beers Photo