Yes, Valley, there is a Santa Claus

ALTON — A mound of presents overflows from under the Christmas tree in the hardscrabble, two-bedroom trailer.

The pantry door stands open; boxes and cans of food block its closure. And Polonia Garcia, the mother of the eight-member family who shares the home, smiles and laughs as her children play in the living room.

“It’s the prettiest Christmas of their lives,” Polonia says in Spanish with a smile and head shake. She looks at the dozens of boxes wrapped in holiday paper under the shining tree.

Three weeks ago, the family had no gifts, no tree and few smiles. Things changed when Rio Grande Valley residents learned of their story — of their plight.

The family’s 5-year-old son Ivan suffers from a rare genetic skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa. The slightest touch or hug blisters his skin. Ivan’s medical needs stop his parents from working full time, making it difficult to support their six children.

Their struggle was kicked off The Monitor’s 10th annual 12 Days of Christmas series, and the community responded.

People and businesses brought two Christmas trees for the trailer, video games for the children, money for the bills and encouragement for mom and dad.

The parents thank the community.

The children thank someone else.

“Look,” says Mario Garcia, 10, pointing to the gifts, the tree, the food. “Santa came. Santa came and brought this.”

Looking at the generosity — and at the children’s laughs and the parents’ smiles — it’s hard to disagree.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Is there a Santa Claus?

More than 100 years ago, an 8-year-old girl posed the question to the New York Sun newspaper:

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

On Sept. 21, 1897, the paper answered her on its editorial page.

The Sun’s Francis Pharcellus Church penned the response, and his answer became enshrined in legend. It has grown into the most famous editorial in U.S. history, according to Newseum, a Washington-based journalism museum. It has appeared in dozens of languages in books, movies and posters.

Santa Claus exists, in the same way love, generosity and devotion exists, he wrote.

The human eye may not see Santa, and he may not be comprehensible to the “little minds” of some of us mere mortals, but that does not mean he is made up.

What a bleak place the world would be without Santa, he wrote.

Yes, Valley, there is a Santa Claus

If Santa exists within the spirit of generosity, he most certainly exists in the Valley.

In recent years, rising gas costs and inflation have challenged the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, said Terri Drefke, the organization’s executive director. But the agency has helped the needy regardless, and the local community has largely made that possible, Drefke said.

From October 2006 to September this year, the group collected 19.7 million pounds of food for the needy.

This year, it’s actually on pace to shatter that mark. Since Oct. 1, the food bank collected 5.4 million pounds of food. If the trend continues, it stands to break last year’s mark before June.

The help comes from all over.

Supermarket chain H.E.B. continues to support the food bank with donations. The University of Texas-Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American have both helped with Empty Bowls, the food bank’s primary fundraising event.

The Killer Bees pro hockey team, the Rio Grande Valley Harley-Davidson dealership, Helds Farms, Campos Produce, Nichos Produce, the Edinburg Rotary Club and Aquilar’s Meat Market have helped, as well. The food bank provided the names of dozens of other companies and organizations that also helped, but there just isn’t room to list them all.

“These are just some of the highlights,” Drefke said. “There are literally thousands more.”

The food bank’s helper database logs more than 27,000 names.

The Valley has also responded with a wave of generosity for individual families in need.

Each Christmas, The Monitor works with the United Way of South Texas to spotlight needy families in the paper’s 12 Days series. Last year, readers set a record-breaking donations total by giving $64,000 to those families. Early in the series this year, donations were fewer, but still topped $20,000.

And generosity extended from the Valley outward.

In October, floods swept through the southern Mexican state of Tabasco.

The Monitor’s Spanish-language sister paper, La Frontera, organized a collection for the victims of that disaster.

People came from all across the area to donate clothes, food and supplies to those victims.

Volunteers packed an 18-wheeler full and drove the collection south to directly hand the donations to those the floods hit.

Magic of Christmas

Ivan’s dad, Jesus Garcia, expected an outpouring of generosity.

He expected that people would read about his boy, about how his fragile skin keeps him confined to the family’s trailer. About how his son can’t eat solid foods because his insides blister as well.

He expected people would hear that story and want to help. Maybe the family would get some used clothes; maybe they would get canned goods.

After Ivan’s story appeared on the front page of The Monitor on Dec. 9, the loads of

presents came within days.

Ivan used to spend some days comatose and half asleep moping around the house, the family said. Since the people and presents began to come, he’s perked up.

Someone bought him a Playstation 2 with five games. He spent the night watching his older brothers play, not quite able to figure the games out himself.

“When the video games came, they went crazy,” says Jesus, watching his children play professional wrestling games.

Ivan turns and looks at his father, who is seated next to the mound of presents.

“Santa came twice,” he says in Spanish, holding up two tiny fingers with blisters on them.

Yes, Ivan, there is a Santa Claus.

____

Zack Quaintance covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4447.