By Derika Upshaw
Fort Hood Public Affairs
FORT HOOD, Texas — The holiday spirit came early for many military children this year with the Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place holding their annual Christmas in July event July 24 at the nonprofit’s workshop here.
“So we kind of wanted to revamp the event,” said Kismet Canady, president of Santa’s Workshop, “make it more of a community outreach, to bring in the kids and the families so we can maybe mingle with them, communicate with them, let them know a little bit more about the organization and what we do, and hope that it helps spread the word in the future for applications to get our numbers larger this year.”
Canady noted last year was hectic with families wrapped around the building, over 1,000 people steadily coming through over three hours. This year the organization had families register for time slots to come and create fun activities for the children to participate in, which families appreciated.
“I think it’s really well done,” said Sgt. Bubba Sams, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. “I like how they provide snacks. They have activities in the front and back to keep kids entertained, and they kept it spaced out so there’s not a lot of crowding. So, I think that it’s flowing very well.”
Genesis Andrus, an Army spouse, said she wanted to come to the event because she thought it would be nice for her daughters, and they were doing something fun for the children. Andrus waited to surprise her daughters with the event.
“I saved it until this morning to let them know,” she said, “and they were like, ‘What, Santa? What, is it Christmas?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, he didn’t want to wait all year to see you guys. So, he said, ‘You know what, we’re going to go in July to go visit all the kids.’’ … They were so excited, they dressed in their red dresses and everything.”
The purpose of the event is to clear the nonprofit’s past year’s inventory to make space for new donations, and additionally to garner pre-applications from families for the organization’s Shop Days this Christmas.
For information on this year’s Shop Days and to apply for the upcoming holiday season, visit santasworkshopgp.org.
