Many of us in Verona are fortunate to get an abundance of gifts from our friends and family around the holidays and sometimes forget that others are not as lucky as we are.

As part of an annual tradition, Verona High School collected 675 presents this year from November 26 until December 17 and wrapped them for boys and girls pre-k to fourth grade. On December 18, members from the Student Council were accompanied by Santa Claus to Hawkins Elementary school in Newark, New Jersey with the goal of ensuring each child in the school got a present for the holiday season.

According to Santa, all of the Hawkins kids were on this nice list this year and we had many toys to give out. Each and every child had a smile from cheek to cheek while ripping open their wrapping paper and discovering what toy hid beneath the paper. The toys ranged from dolls to cars to Legos along with many other games. It was extremely rewarding for Student Council to see the reaction of the children and to experience how appreciative they were for us to be there.

In addition to experiencing the joy from the children opening their presents, it was also really nice to see the kids sharing their toys with one another and trading until everyone was pleased with their gift. In one case, two girls traded dolls with each other so each could have the doll that looked more like her.

One child saved his toy so he could put it under his tree and would have something to open on Christmas. Another kid expressed after opening his gift that he loved it so much that he wanted to rewrap his present and then open it again on Christmas day.

Because so many gifts were donated this year, Student Council was able to donate them to Salome Urena Elementary School, also in Newark, and the Verona Community Center.

Overall, the VHS toy drive is extremely successful and brings joy to children who are less fortunate. Many of them might not have received any Christmas presents this year. The number of toys that were collected allowed hundreds of kids to discover happiness throughout this holiday season.