Volunteers remember Whidbey Island kids

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Austin Fox, 7, and his mother Julie, stand in front of their Freeland home on Christmas Eve anxiously awaiting a visit from Santa Claus.

A convoy of cars led by a truck stops; elves pour out of the truck and Santa pops out of a green SUV.

Austin doesn’t seem to mind that jolly old St. Nick isn’t arriving by sleigh.

Julie Fox hurries her son back in the house as the elves, all with painted rosy cheeks and wearing elf hats, begin unloading toys and boxes from the back of the truck.

Santa heaves a big bag over his shoulder and heads into the house to give gifts to the Fox family. Another volunteer rolls a brand new bicycle up the driveway and places it on the porch while others bring in a box of food.

The Fox family was one of 102 families in Island County served by the Forgotten Children’s Fund this year. Each family was visited by one of seven Santa Clauses on Christmas Eve. Nearly 100 volunteers — including the Santas — worked for hours gathering gifts and wrapping them, each one earmarked for a particular family.

At the Fox home, Austin received a warm jacket and a helmet along with other packages of surprises to be opened on Christmas morning.

“This is really wonderful; so special for us,” Julie Fox said.

This was the fifth annual Forgotten Children’s Fund Christmas gift effort in Island County. Deb and Bill O’Brien are organizers of the Forgotten Children’s Fund here.

“It’s so magical to give a child a personal visit from Santa Claus,” Deb O’Brien said.

Families are chosen from referrals from schools, social services and fire departments,.

“We begin right after Thanksgiving when representatives from the charity begin screening families,” O’Brien said.

“This was one of the harder Christmases we’ve had on the island. There is a great need, but it’s always there,” she said.

The volunteers made several pre-Christmas runs to families of terminally-ill children and adults, who were not expected to live through the weekend.

“These visits were particularly poignant,” O’Brien said.

At 8 a.m., volunteers gathered at the M-Bar-C Ranch and began loading the donated moving trucks with toys, bicycles, warm jackets and food staples. There was a party atmosphere inside the barn with coffee, juice and cinnamon rolls for the volunteers before they headed out.

For last-minute instructions, the seven Santas and their elves gathered around the roaring fireplace. Information sheets about each family were distributed along with a MapQuest map for each address. After deliveries were made, volunteers gathered at the ranch for a potluck dinner.

The M-Bar-C Ranch is owned and operated by the Forgotten Children’s Fund, which conducts a Ranch Experience Program at the M-Bar-C ranch in Freeland for children who are physically, mentally or emotionally disadvantaged.