NAPLES DAILY NEWS

December 26, 2006

For Christmas, they give

Volunteers help make “Christmas in Immokalee” memorable for families of migrant workers

By Liam Dillon

Cardboard boxes stuffed with toys, tables covered in toys, small hands clutching toys and smiles spread across grateful faces.

For more than 20 years, Northside Naples Kiwanis Club's "Christmas in Immokalee" has meant hot meals, photographs with Santa Claus and fellowship between volunteers and migrant farmworkers. Seventy-five percent of farmworkers earn less than $10,000 yearly.

Organizers estimated that nearly 5,000 people attended the celebration filling Airport Park's picnic tables, grasses and gravel parking lots with holiday cheer.

Teenagers Junior Jolibois, 14, and Holandais Biennevil, 17, have been coming to the event all their lives.

"We come to celebrate," said Biennevil, standing with a new red bandana tied around his head. "To get gifts, to see our friends and families and tell them Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

Volunteers treated their guests to a lunchtime meal of chicken, sausage, corn, rolls, corn bread, beans, salad and a fruit drink. They also handed out 1,500 blankets, and cookies and cakes donated by Publix supermarkets.

Organizers were concerned that rain would dampen the event, but the weather stayed clear.

That meant more time to rip open presents.

After visiting Santa and Mrs. Claus, children could comb through toys such as fire trucks, Candy Land board games, Raggedy Ann dolls, footballs, jigsaw puzzles, stuffed dinosaurs and Yahtzee.

Stanley Souverain, a 6-year-old with adult teeth growing in, glowed over his hand-held baseball video game.

"I think it's cool," he said.

Behind Santa sat tables stocked with gifts.

Victor and Jessica Mendoza, teenaged brother and sister, stood behind the tables and handed out presents. They were volunteering along with their parents for the second straight year.

The look on the children's faces when they saw the tables made the Mendozas' morning.

"When we first started this morning, everyone got so excited when they saw the presents," said Jessica, 15. "They wanted to see what they each would get."

Along with Northside Naples Kiwanis, other Kiwanis clubs, Key Clubs, Boy Scout Troop 165 and employees from WCI Communities builders made up the bulk of the volunteers.

Organizers raised more than $25,000 for the event.

"I think it went spectacularly," said Bob Schubring, president of Northside Naples Kiwanis. "It gets a little smoother every year. We prayed very hard there wasn't going to be any rain."

Christy Linn, a 32-year-old employee for WCI, brought her whole family, which was visiting from Canada and Australia, to help out.

Linn, her parents, sister and her brother and his girlfriend had an early breakfast, emptied their stockings and came over to Airport Park.

"It's truly phenomenal to see the amount of sharing and giving," said Linn, who was volunteering for the first time. "The smiles on the children's faces light up like Christmas trees and their parents can relax and feel good about being here."

The event started in the mid-1980s when Mary Evans, a former farmworker, began serving Christmas meals outside of the window of her house on East Eustace Street in Immokalee. She began seeing more and more people attend and received the help of Northside Kiwanis, who moved everything to Airport Park.

One link to that past remained Monday.

Edna Germon, 84, sat by the food, holding court and wearing a Santa hat. Germon was a friend of Evans and helped out near the beginning.

"We used to cook turkey in our homes," Germon said. "It just got bigger and bigger."

Health problems have made it more difficult for Germon to come in recent years, but that doesn't deter her.

"I've been meeting so many people," she said. "It's been so nice. They say if I didn't come they'd come out to my house and get me."

At one point, the line to see Santa snaked almost to the edge of the park, filled with parents holding children's hands or holding babies and toddlers in their arms. The large turnout made Christmas all the more special for some.

Hector Gutierrez, 52, came with his niece, Jessica, and nephew, Raul.

"We had to find a way to come here," he said through a Spanish interpreter while standing in line waiting for Santa. "It's great to know that Immokalee takes care of its people."