At the start of the holiday season, Nursing freshman Kayla Guarneri wasn't dreaming about snow or eggnog.
Instad, she was thinking about the looks on local children's faces when she gave them the gifts they'd been begging Santa Claus for.
Guarneri is one of about 20 student volunteers who dressed up as elves or Santa Claus and delivered 125 Christmas presents - most of which were purchased by Penn students - to children at two nearby low-income Catholic schools yesterday morning.
Officially called Operation Santa Claus, yesterday's event marked the tradition's 19th year.
OSC is managed by the Office for Youth and Young Adults, a Philadelphia-based Catholic organization that runs community-service programs. It is run by the Newman Center on campus.
And for students who have been involved in OSC for quite some time, the toy delivery marks the best time of the holiday season.
"Some of these kids won't get presents, and it spreads the Christmas cheer to kids that aren't like us and privileged," Guarneri said.
In previous years, gifts were given to students at Drew Elementary, a public school at 37th Street and Lancaster Avenue, and St. Ignatius of Loyola School, a Catholic school on 43rd Street.
But a new principal took over at Drew Elementary this year, and she was uncomfortable with the religious implications of the project, said Nursing junior Anne Shoemaker, who led the project this year.
As a result, Drew Elementary was replaced with another school, Our Mother of Sorrows, located on 48th Street, Shoemaker added. This school has fewer students than Drew, and thus OSC distributed fewer gifts this year.
St. Ignatius also participated in the project this year.
Before receiving the gifts - which ranged from Hot Wheels cars to board games to dolls - the children wrote letters to Santa, telling him what they wanted for presents. Volunteers then gave the requested gift to the children.
About half of the volunteers are students involved with the Newman Center; the other half are students who heard about Operation Santa Claus and wanted to make a difference, Shoemaker said.
Some campus groups - like the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, the Sigma Kappa sorority, the Pan-Asian American Community House and Stouffer College House - encouraged members to donate gifts.
OSC leaders said that, since the project happens in the Christmas season, more people are eager to participate.
"There's always a bigger turnout for Christmas-oriented community-service events," Nursing freshman Stella Han said.
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