The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Santa’s Workshop’ event canceled
CROMWELL — It had become one of the best and most successful events of the school year.
The annual Santa’s Workshop, a joint collaboration of the high school’s Student Council and the town’s Youth Services Department, offered families in need a chance to come together for a night of joy.
This year, however, like so many other events, the program became a victim of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Marcia Pendleton- Sacco, the Youth Services program assistant and one of the driving forces behind the annual event, said in a release, “These difficult times have cheated (the students) out of all the traditional high school events and classic memories they have looked forward to for so long.”
The virus had meant canceling events of the last months of the 2019 school year.
“We were hoping this school year would continue to improve and we would be able to resume some ‘normal’ activities in 2020,” Sacco said. “Everyone stayed optimistic, hoped for the best, and remained flexible.”
In past years, the students turned the high school cafeteria into a veri
table Santa’s workshop. with crafts and games, a seemingly endless supply of pizza, and a visit from “jolly old St. Nick.”
The student body this year raised $ 1,500 toward the resumption of the Christmas party.
As part of that effort, the Student Council sold face masks to help fund the party, Sacco said.
When the event was canceled, the students agreed to re- direct their $ 1,500 to the town’s “Adopt-A-Family” program instead, Saco said.
“We are proud of these kids. They are deserving of
recognition for making the best of the bad situation,” she said in an email.
The Holiday Party Committee representatives and members “are deserving of recognition and commended for their resilience in planning this year’s ‘ Santa’s Workshop’ alternative.
“They met the challenges of brain- storming on fund raising and distribution during these difficult times of restrictions,” Sacco said.
“The ‘positive youth development,’ which is an underlying purpose of this program, is real world education in these times of
pandemic. They met the challenge, improvised, and set an example,” Sacco added.
Zack Randazzo and Steven Trinh were the co- chairmen of this year’s Holiday Party.
“We were able to contribute to the Cromwell ‘Adopt- a-Family’ program, which fulfills the wish list of families in need.” Trinh said.
“Although we are unsure how this will compare to Holiday Parties in the past, Zack and I are glad that we were able to do our part in bettering the Cromwell community,” Trinh said.