By Jm Beers
CHESTER – What is now known as the “Christmas Assistance Program” provided Christmas gifts for 68 local children this year. This program, or one that served the same goals, has been functioning for several decades.
District No.139 personnel of one sort or another have been organizing a Christmas gift program for children for years and the Chester High School Football Team has been doing the shopping for the gifts for many years.
Head Football Coach, Billy Belton and his assistant coaches monitor the shopping experience and players from all levels of the YellowJacket football program come to the Walmart in Chester and spend a good portion of their Saturday morning in the first week in December each year to purchase gifts for the children accepted into the program.
Coach Belton said, “We teach our boys to give back to the community that supports us. The boys enjoy shopping for kids and have fun in the process. This has been an annual project of ours for years and a tradition we will continue.”
On the date of this shopping experience the Chester Walmart dedicated four employees to assist with the project. These four included Keelie McPherson, Team Lead-Seasonal; Lisa Kochanski, Claims Team Associate; Jason Marlow, Store Manager, and Angela Kirchofer, Consumable Team Lead.
These employees assisted the YellowJacket players and coaches in making their purchases and checking them out at the register in a dedicated area of the store. Once checked out, coaches and players loaded all of the gifts into a vehicle to be transported to the Chester Grade School where they were sorted and stored until parents picked up the gifts to be taken home, wrapped and put under the Christmas tree.
Chester Grade School employees, Melissa Davitz, Pre-K Coordinator, and Casey Peters, Speech Language Pathologist, were the coordinators of the project and are in their first year in this role.
Davitz said, “There are still so many things for us to learn this year. This is our first time doing the coordination for the project and we are slowly learning. We do not really have a title for the program for this year, but the letter we sent home to the parents was titled as the ‘Christmas Assistance Program’. Maybe next year we will have a more fun name!”
Davitz and Peters are very thankful to all of the donors that made the Christmas shopping experience possible. “There were 68 children that the football team shopped for this holiday season. That would not have been possible without the support of numerous donors.”
According to Davits and Peters, Walmart and Night Hawk Coal donated a huge portion of the funding with donations of $2000 apiece. Other contributors included Love Abby, State Farm, Memorial Hospital of Chester, Ebenezer Church in Rockwood, St. John’s Angel Tree, First Baptist Church, and four private donors that wished to remain anonymous.
Davitz said, “Love Abby and State Farm both provided new coats, clothing, shoes and toys. Memorial Hospital, Ebenezer Church, and St. John’s Angel Tree provided new clothing. The YellowJacket Football Team uses the funding provided by Walmart and Night Hawk Coal to purchase toys.”
Davitz also mentioned that another very much appreciated act was that Rozier’s Country Market in Chester provided all 650 Chester Grade School students with donuts and drinks the last Wednesday before Christmas break. Santa and Mrs. Claus were also on hand that day to help celebrate Christmas.
The 2023 Christmas Assistance Program went smoothly and was deemed a huge success. Davitz and Peters have every intention of coordinating the program again in 2024.
The Chester High School Football Team and coaches shopped for 68 children’s Christmas gifts this year at the Chester Walmart as part of the 2023 “Christmas Assistance Program”. Jim Beers Photo
Coordinators for the 2023 Christmas Assistance Program Football Shopping trip take time out from their supervisory duties at the Walmart in Chester to pose for a photo Saturday December 9. Pictured left to right are Casey Peters, Chester Grade School Speech & Language Pathologist, Billy Belton, CHS Head Football Coach, and Melissa Davits, Chester Grade School Pre-K Coordinator. Jim Beers Photo
CHS YellowJacket Football players Kolton Jany and Landen Conder shop for kids at the 2023 Christmas Assistance Program shopping trip. Jim Beers Photo
Melissa Davitz (left) and Casey Peters, (right), Coordinators of the 2023 Christmas Assistance Program, help check out Christmas gifts Saturday December 9 at the Chester Walmart. When all said and done the CHS Football players shopped for 68 children’s gifts this Christmas. Jim Beers Photo
CHS quarterback, Zain Al-Jassim shops for his Christmas list of gifts at the Walmart in Chester Saturday December 9. The CHS Football Team and coaching staff selected gifts for 68 children who had applied for and and been accepted to the 2023 Christmas Assistance Program. Jim Beers Photo
On Saturday December 9 when the CHS Football Team shopped for 68 children enrolled in the 2023 Christmas Assistance Program , Chester Walmart dedicated four employees to check out the CHS Football Team shoppers and assist with the overall project. Pictured (left to right) are Angela Kirchofer, Consumable Team Leader; Jason Marlow, Store Manager; Lisa Kochanski, Claims Team Associate, and Keelie McPherson, Team Leader, Seasonal. Jim Beers Photo
Saturday morning December 9 the aisles were full and very busy as the entire Chester High School Football Program, under the leadership of Head Coach Billy Belton, shopped for Christmas gifts for 68 children. The morning shopping trip was a huge success and the players had a great and meaningful time helping to make Christmas a bit better for 68 lucky children! Jim Beers Photo