Sunday Sessions: Thinking Outside the Box

Blue Santa!
by Claire Pan­choo James

My daugh­ter received an early gift from the “Blue Santa” here in Bay­town (Texas)! She called and was so excited! She said mom if St. Croix only thought of its cit­i­zens this way! They gave her a microwave and a big bag of presents for her lit­tle one. Tears came to my eyes. I was going to give her that same gift. She needed it but now I can get her some­thing else. I started think­ing about my home and I won­dered how won­der­ful that would be for the people.

It is not every day that you see rac­ing police vehi­cles going down the street to deliver presents. It is usu­ally to arrest some­one or a call to crime. It is good to know that those sirens were bring­ing joy to the less for­tu­nate. I also got to think­ing about how won­der­ful it would be to restore some sense of trust and respect for the V.I.P.D. (Vir­gin Islands Police Depart­ment). There are some peo­ple who I know have good hearts and do a great good within the depart­ment for the peo­ple out­side of solv­ing crimes. You never know, maybe, they might just be more cooperative.

The city gave out free presents, drink and cook­ies. The bik­ers of the town use City Hall every year to also give out presents and today gave away four hun­dred and fifty bikes. Wow! What a way to make the lit­tle chil­dren look up to grown folks in such a pos­i­tive way. The gov­er­nor is not expected to hold these events the depart­ments are respon­si­ble to rep­re­sent their pro­grams within the com­mu­nity with the approval of the State. The schools take a list of homes and chil­dren who are in need and deliver turkeys and presents each year to help the city bridge the gap. The churches also pro­vide these ser­vices even if you are not a member.

I am a mother of eight and I was not qual­i­fied for pub­lic assis­tance in St. Croix just because I had a lit­tle piece of prop­erty but my chil­dren and I lacked greatly within the home for things. I was an employee of Hov­ensa and still couldn’t main­tain all that I needed to.

Some­thing to think about for our com­mu­nity! I love out­reach and the idea melted my heart but rather than wait­ing to come home to do it I decided to share the idea because there might just be some lit­tle child whose par­ents can­not afford to give them anything.

DID I MENTIONED THAT IT DID NOT MATTER IF THESE PEOPLE RECEIVED FOOD STAMPS OR WELFARE? NO QUESTIONS WERE ASKED! THE AMAZING THING IS THAT EVEN IF THEY DID RECEIVE ASSISTANCE, THE AMOUNT IS FAR GREATER THAN THE ALLOTMENT FOR THE V.I. (Vir­gin Islands) BUT IT STILL DID NOT MATTER.

*Repub­lished with Permission