Team: Dan & Connie
I hugged my girls a little tighter than normal when I got home last night.
It’s a normal reaction when you’ve spent time with children at the Crisis Nursery … when little kids run up to you begging to be picked up and held … when a 7-year-old, on Dec. 22, asks you, “When is Christmas?” … when you watch a 4-year-old for whom violence should be a mystery lash out at any child smaller than him … when you see twin girls who both are unable to tell you why the tears won’t stop flowing.
This time of year we are reminded of the famous New York Sun editorial piece, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Would Francis Pharcellus Church’s answer be any different for these children, who will spend Christmas morning in a group home away from their families while a million “Virginia’s” around the world run to their Christmas trees to see what gifts Santa has in store for them?
If Church spent any time with the young boy who, for sake of confidentiality, I’ll call Little Man, the answer would most assuredly be yes. Little Man didn’t speak for over an hour, avoiding eye contact and whimpering. But a push on the swing brought out a beautiful smile, and a giggle that melts the heart.
Yes, Little Man, there is a Santa Claus. As Church famously wrote, “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”
That love and generosity and devotion exists in the hearts of the dedicated case managers who work long hours for little pay to keep you safe and give you some semblance of normalcy.
Santa doesn’t always appear as a jolly old elf for kids like Little Man. Sometimes he’s a child from a nearby school who donates hand-made ornaments to decorate a tree, sometimes he’s a mother from Queens who helps him tie his shoes, and sometimes he’s a stranger who gives him a push on the swing.
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