For two parents of modest means, providing for nine children wasn’t always easy.
But somehow, every single Christmas, Jean Pittman’s parents made certain she and her eight brothers and sisters had presents under the tree in their Summer Hill home in Atlanta. Everybody might not have gotten everything they wanted, but they got something.
“What a blessing,” Pittman said. “I don’t know what it would be like to wake up with nothing.”
About 12 years ago, she began working with children who not only received no presents at Christmas, they rarely got a holiday tree. Pittman was a Medicaid specialist at Right From the Start, a division of the Department of Family and Children Services. Right From the Start was charged with helping its clients sign up for Medicaid, PeachCare and other health care services for their children. Their offices were based in hospitals, health departments and doctors’ offices that served low income patients.
One of those patients pulled Pittman aside just before Christmas one year and told Pittman that she couldn’t afford Christmas gifts for her kids. Remembering how fortunate she had been as a child, Pittman bought presents for the woman’s children. And that’s how Pittman began the Winter Wonderland Secret Santa Program Health Fair and Toy Distribution event.
“It was very small when it began, but she saw the need and took the lead,” said Marcus Magee, her former supervisor.
Initially, Pittman asked coworkers to help by bringing in gifts that they would distribute each December during the toy exchange for the kids. But as the event grew, she realized she needed more presents because the need was growing. That’s when she began asking businesses to chip in.
“And you know, it takes guts and tenacity to go to organizations for donations, particularly when these places get hit up for donations all the time,” Magee said.
In 2000 the event expanded to include health screenings.
“What would happen, is at the Secret Santa parties while the kids were having fun, the parents would ask us where they could go to get blood pressure checks or a mammogram or something,” Pittman said. “So we added health care and got all the services donated.”
Glucose screenings, blood pressure checks and even mammograms have been provided at the Secret Santa events. Fire fighters check to make sure parents have installed their children’s car seats properly, and in some cases the fire fighters have donated car seats.
“We’ve had clients have their lives saved because with a screening they found a lump in their breast they didn’t know they had,” said Pittman of East Point. “Then when you see kids getting the toys and the joy on their faces, no words are needed.”
Pittman, 47, has been on medical leave from her job since the summer and is unsure whether she will be able to return to work. But she intends to carry on the Secret Santa Health Fair through her church if she is unable to come back. No one should be without a toy at Christmas, she said, but there is one gift more important that all:
“Your health should be at the top of your Christmas list,” Pittman said.
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