Operation Santa Claus is almost ready to go. Wish lists are nearly complete and hundreds of Penn volunteers await the eager requests for the season's hottest toys -- Bratz dolls and Spiderman action figures.
What's missing? St. Nick himself.
The key figure in the University-wide charity program -- in which local low-income elementary school students receive gifts from Penn volunteers -- is not yet scheduled to make an appearance at the annual holiday party.
"I have a couple of prospects," Operation Santa Claus Co-Chairwoman and College sophomore Lisa DeGregoris says.
Organized by the Newman Center -- the University hub for Catholic students -- the program pairs Penn students with children at St. Ignatius of Loyola and Penn-Alexander elementary schools, both located near campus in West Philadelphia.
"These little kids are so thoughtful and so appreciative," DeGregoris says. "You just see their eyes light up."
Students at these schools write letters to Santa Claus requesting presents, which Operation Santa Claus organizers then distribute to University community members who purchase the gifts.
According to Cynthia Settles, the Home and School president at Penn- Alexander, gift requests range from dolls to board games. Volunteers are asked to spend $12 to $20 on gifts.
"Sometimes they get stuff that's over" the $20 limit, Settles says. "They really do a great job."
Volunteers then distribute the gifts at a holiday party, which this year will be held on Dec. 13.
At last year's party, "we told them that we were Santa's elves. They told us, 'Tell him thank you,'" DeGregoris says, noting that the group lacked its title figure last winter due to an oversized costume. "They were so excited that we were taking an interest in them."
The program, which started in 1996, currently involves over 350 elementary school students and an equal number of Penn volunteers. The Penn students are in charge of most organizational aspects of the program, from communicating with the elementary schools to wrapping presents.
College sophomore and Newman Council secretary Meg Vail says that the operation draws students from all religious faiths.
"Obviously this gift drive is very meaningful to the Christian community in celebration of the birth of Christ," she says. "The gift drive is also intended to share the holiday spirit of giving with those less fortunate in the Philadelphia area. ... It's a very unifying endeavor."
College sophomore Lynda Abend, who is Jewish, says being a part of the gift drive in no way conflicts with her religion. She bought gifts for St. Ignatius and Penn-Alexander students last Christmas and plans to do so again this year.
"Christmas has evolved into something that is more than just a religious holiday for Christians," she says. "It's not necessarily about whether you're Jewish or Christian. It's about doing something positive for the people around you."
And despite being associated with the Newman Center, Operation Santa Claus provides gifts to all students, regardless of their religious faith, save one instance in which elementary school teachers misconstrued the program to be exclusively for Christians.
"One year, we had a class list but we didn't have letters from everybody," Chaplain and Director of the Newman Center Father Chuck Pfeffer says. "When we contacted the school, they said, 'These students aren't Christian.'"
Pfeffer says that Operation Santa Claus volunteers bought gifts for all students regardless of their religion.
"We provided toys anyway, because it's pretty hard for little kids if you're sitting there and everybody gets a toy and you don't," he says.
According to Pfeffer, the program attracts most of its University participants through the Newman Center and Greek organizations, many of which orchestrate group shopping trips for Operation Santa Claus gifts.
Gift requests from St. Ignatius and Penn-Alexander students will be distributed to volunteers on Nov. 21. DeGregoris expects a volunteer turnout comparable to last year.
