For the fourth year, Laguna Blanca Middle School students joined together with giving spirits for their annual Holiday Gift Drive, for which they gathered gifts for children currently living in the Santa Barbara County foster care system.

This year, the Laguna students increased their reach and support by joining forces with Upper School students to collect over 200 gifts for children in need.

Two hundred and fifty  students gathered in the School’s Ruston Amphitheater for a special assembly lead by Ms. Trish McHale, the School’s Community Service director, and Dana Martin,

Middle and Upper School Assistant, to present the gifts to representatives from Santa Barbara Social Services Department.

These representatives sincerely thanked the students and faculty for donating all the gifts and for thinking of the children whose Christmases are not always so bright.

Laguna Blanca Lower School is also proud to have first grade twin girls who were adopted from the Foster Care Program.

Their adopted mother, Danielle Koornwinder, who also adopted the girls’ younger brother, learned that Laguna Middle and Upper School students were involved in the Holiday Gift Drive, and she decided to bring her twin daughters to the Hope Ranch campus to pick up two wish lists so they could participate.

The two girls attended today’s assembly and were warmly welcomed to the Hope Ranch campus by students and faculty with hugs and rounds of applause.

Throughout the county, the Social Services Department gathers holiday wish lists from children (infants to teens) who are living with foster families or in foster care group homes.

Each participating Laguna Blanca student received a gift request from a foster youth.

They then  volunteered to gather gifts for their respective foster child.

These wish lists include items such as clothes, toys, and sports equipment, and vast number of teenagers (up to age 19) are hoping for something as simple as iTunes gift-cards.

Also included with the request are the name, age, and size of each child, so the students truly feel a connection with whom they are giving gifts.

“The foster care gift drive is my favorite community service event at LBS. The final phase of wrapping the gifts that were collected throughout the county put the finishing touch on it and made the experience even more fulfilling,” Ms. Martin said.

This is the fourth year that Ms. McHale has led the Interact Club in organizing the foster care gift drive. “The generosity of the Laguna community is astounding. I am humbled to be a part of a community that shows such a willingness to dig deep and to remember those less fortunate — especially at the holidays. Thanks to everyone who participated. You’re helping to make the holidays happier for those in need.”