Lindbergh DECA Club Shares Holiday Spirit With Low-Income Students

’s marketing classroom looked more like Santa’s workshop after school on Monday.

Music played in the background as two dozen DECA students buzzed around a long line of tables filled with wrapping paper, ribbon, bows and candy canes; sacks of donated gifts occupied various corners of the room; and stacks of wrapped presents were packed for delivery to area elementary schools.

DECA collected 100 presents for low-income students at four nearby Renton elementary schools: Tiffany Park, Cascade Elementary, Benson Hill and Renton Park, said Alexis Khamphilom.

“I’m glad they are going to get Christmas gifts this year,” she said of the younger students, adding that the toy collecting, wrapping and delivery is also a lot of fun.

The students cannot give the gifts directly to the recipients for privacy reasons, she said. Instead DECA members delivered the gifts to the four elementary schools on Tuesday, each marked with the child’s first name, age and gender.

For the last couple years Cascade Elementary School Assistant Principal Rachel Lockhart has witnessed children’s faces light up at the sight of the wrapped packages.

“The kids are called to the office at the end of the day and told that there is a special surprise for them,” she said, adding the kids are instructed to take their present home and open it over the holidays.

Cascade Elementary selected 25 students to recieve a gift through the Giving Tree program with the help of a family liaison and teachers who know of struggling families at the school.

“We match siblings and try to get entire families taken care of,” she said.

Lindbergh DECA Advisor Gene Kolczynski said student participation in the Giving Tree program is good. He estimates that students purchase 75 percent of the gifts and school staff contribute the remaining 25 percent.

Kolczynski introduced the program to Lindbergh High School four years ago, and before that started a Giving Tree at Kent-Meridian High School.

“I think teaching the kids to give back is just as important as the other kids receiving the gifts,” he said. “It establishes good habits.”