Gift-giving program continues at FHS

For the second year in a row, Fairfield High School students are buying gifts for youngsters in need.

FHS senior Abyni Garner started a gift-giving program last year that supplied 30 presents to Fairfield Middle School students. This year, she set a goal of more than double that, hoping to get 70 presents.

The student council gave its full support to the event. Ornaments were made that corresponded to a wish from a child at the middle school. The ornaments were hung from a Christmas tree at the high school's central office. Those who wished to donate picked an ornament from the tree and purchased what was on the child's wish list.

'People kept coming up to me and saying, ‘I just found the perfect gift,'” Garner told the Fairfield school board Monday. 'It's so cool to see everyone excited to give to someone they don't even know.”

Many of the children wrote that they needed winter clothing such as coats and boots. Garner said it was such a thrill to personally hand out the presents last year.

'It was great to see the kids' happy faces when they opened their gift and said, ‘Oh my gosh, I got a coat!'” she said.

In a matter of days, all 70 ornaments were spoken for. Garner and other high school students will deliver the presents to the middle schoolers Thursday. Though Garner is graduating at the end of this school year, she hopes there is enough enthusiasm toward the program that it continues after she leaves.

The program began last year when Garner approached FHS principal Brian Stone about providing gifts to the high school teachers, just like she and her classmates had done for their middle school teachers years earlier. Stone appreciated her thoughtfulness, but suggested a different group of recipients for the presents: middle school students. After consulting with FHS special education instructor Staci Wright, who is also president of the African Violet Foundation which assists students and their families, FMS principal Matt Jones and FMS guidance counselor Jay Thompson, a list of middle school students was compiled. Their dreams were written on the ornaments, and thanks to the generosity of the FHS students, faculty and staff, their dreams came true.