Seasonal & Holidays
460 Children Get Christmas Gifts In Manchester Thanks To Kevin's Kids
The annual drive to ensure Manchester children in need have gifts for Christmas drew resounding community support once again.
MANCHESTER, NJ — Manchester Township Schools staff and volunteers took their lists and checked them twice, and fulfilled Christmas wishes for more than 460 Manchester children for the 2023 Kevin's Kids gift drive.
The shopping trip at Target filled a record number of lists as the initiative marked its 41st year, district officials said.
The Kevin's Kids drive does not collect generic gifts but raises funds to fulfill specific gift wish lists submitted by Manchester families in need.
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It started in the early 1980s, after a first-grade teacher at Whiting Elementary School learned Santa didn't visit one of his students. The teacher told Kevin Burger, the school principal at the time, and Burger and the teacher learned of the child’s holiday wish list and, together with their colleagues, made Christmas happen for that student.
It kicked off the annual effort that has expanded and is carried on districtwide. Burger retired several years ago, and the effort currently is organized by Alex George, the Manchester Schools' director of student personnel services.
Find out what's happening in Manchesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"This is one of Manchester Schools' biggest fundraising efforts and it truly shows what a great community and place Manchester is to live and raise a family," George said. "Kevin’s Kids is another reason that I am so proud to be a part of this school district and town. We are truly a family who works together to take care of those in our community."
The gifts are paid for through a variety of fundraisers, including support from the senior communities and from township entities and businesses.
The school community joins in through various efforts. School bus drivers volunteer to pick up and transport gifts and employees of buildings and grounds spend their own time putting together toys and bicycles, and staff members and their families gather to shop for any remaining gifts, then sorting and wrapping them ahead of the anonymous distribution that occurs at a district school on a weekend afternoon.
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