John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
It was more than getting a bag – a big bag – of goodies.
Every child, and in some cases young adults, who this afternoon stepped up to the front of the festively decorated room at Children’s Hospital to accept the donated gifts from Santa and and Mrs. Claus, received a Tim Tebow-worthy round of applause from family members, friends, staff and volunteers from the Universal Lending Foundation that put together the Holiday Hugs event.
“For a lot of kids, especially our economically disadvantaged ones, this is their holiday,” said Arletta Cockrell, clinical manager of the hospital’s Medical Day Treatment Program.
She noted that when the Denver-based Universal Lending approached her about doing something for the kids about a dozen years ago – all of whom have chronic illnesses, ranging from rental failure, sickle cell anemia, diabetes, Lupus, to heart and kidney problems – the company and its President, Peter Lansing, were strangers to her, the children and the hospital.
“Now, we are all family,” Cockrell said, as tears welled up in her eyes.
Family is key for Samika Williams, who at 18 is older than many of the 24 children who received gifts. Volunteers also bought and wrapped gifts for 42 siblings of the two dozen patients.
“For me, the best part was meeting family members,” of the other young patients, she said.
Williams, from Des Moines, Ia., has been in the treatment program for the past four years. Believe it or not, the 12th grader no longer believes in Santa Claus, but that didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for Holiday Hugs.
“ I really didn’t want anything for Christmas, but I really appreciated that my siblings got gifts,” she said. And because she is older than many of others in ther program, she said she tries to serve as a role model for them.
Presents were piled high – sometimes even taller than than the children themselves.
“We bought and wrapped hundreds and hundreds of gifts,” said Robin Smith, spokeswoman for the Universal Lending Foundation.
“Usually, we can wrap them from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. back at Universal Lending’s headquarters (on East Evans Boulevard near South Monaco Parkway), but last Friday it took us until 2 p.m. It was a three-hour wrapping party.”
That doesn’t include the hours volunteers spent shopping for gifts.
“Every year, a lot of children want MP3 players, digital cameras and CDs,” Smith said. “We had one little boy, for the second year in a row, all he wanted was a season pass to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We bought passes for all of his brothers and sisters, too.”
Another little boy was scheduled for surgery today, but it was important for him to see Santa. He got his wish, meeting Santa in the hall he was whisked off for the operation.
Holiday Hugs is gaining a national reputation among existing and prospective patients and family members, as well as becoming increasingly well-known in the Denver area.
“We use it as a selling point,” Cockrell said. “For many of the children and their families, this is the event of the year. A lot of kids look forward to this day all year. We are so grateful to Universal Lending. Holiday Hugs couldn’t be better. It’s perfect.”
Universal Lending is a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews. To learn more about Universal Lending Foundation, please visit this link.
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com
