As children with Hephzibah’s Head Start program were tasked Dec. 15 with choosing gifts for their parents and loved ones, Mechelle Wesley guided them as they perused the donated items.
Wesley and others with social and service group Newcomers and Neighbors of OPRF collected community donations to put together a holiday boutique for children in Hephzibah’s Head Start program to shop from.
“For me personally, being able to give during the holiday season is the biggest gift,” Wesley said. “You feel like you’ve done something to make someone’s holiday brighter.”
Jewelry, handbags and wallets, gloves and scarves, candles and home decor, lotions and perfume, and a table with gifts geared toward men filled a room at Hepzhibah Home.
The day’s frigid weather affected the number of children who attended school and took part, but for those who weren’t there that day, teachers chose items for the students’ loved ones.
Kristine Murphy, the Newcomers and Neighbors member who heads up organization of the event, said the inventory of gifts was double what it usually is, likely boosted by frequent and widespread promotion throughout the community. Organization for the event begins in November.
“It was just absolutely an outpouring,” Murphy said.
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Gifts were chosen for students’ moms, dads, grandmothers, aunts and siblings, to be presented to loved ones at a holiday program Dec. 22.
Volunteers helped children individually, and children made fairly quick choices, often heading straight to jewelry and handbags. Newcomers and Neighbors member Amanda Turnbull and her mom, Dana Hunter, staffed a wrapping station to bag and wrap gifts.
“Really what it does, in my opinion, it gives them normalized holiday experiences as little kids,” Murphy said.
Melissa Smith, director of Head Start and assistant director of daycare, said the Head Start program offers preschool at no charge for 3- to 5-year-olds from low-income or English as a Second Language families in Oak Park and the surrounding area. She said she enjoys the experience because it allows the children the opportunity to give during the holiday season without the burden of cost.
“It’s fun to watch them because they take their time,” Smith said. “It’s just a lot of fun to pass on the thought of being giving and being generous.”
Smith added it can be entertaining to see what the children choose for their loved ones: in the past, kids went right past a Coach handbag that most adults would find desirable.
“The things that we identify as being nice, they don’t pick up on,” she said with a grin.
Each child also got to choose a new winter hat and gloves. As for the leftover items, children who live at Hephzibah would be able to shop for the staff member who they’re close to, Murphy said.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.