PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some have questioned if Santa is real or not but there are 100 children from the Gladys Allen Brigham Center who can tell you for sure he exists.

 

On Friday, standing on the front of a fire truck, Santa arrived at the center with more than 300 presents to give out. The children crowded around as his gave high fives and posed for photos.

 

He carried his bag of presents and in the gymnasium tables were lined up with even more gifts with names of the children already written on the tags.

 

Brigham Center staff handed the presents out and soon after the children tore them open to find toys they had hoped would be under their tree.

 

"The kids are so happy. That Santa was here while they were opening and while they were passing the gifts out, was even better," Sharra Blache, director of the center's ABC School Age Enrichment Program, said.

 

Blache had received a phone call just a few weeks earlier from Firefighter Nate Backer, who wanted to know if any children needed presents this year. With more than half of the center's population coming from low-income families, Blache and Early Childhood Education Director Jessica Zerbato started jotting down names of children and asked them what they'd want for Christmas - one want and one need. 

 

The list was sent back to the Fire Department, and checked twice. The Fire Department passed those names and gift requests along to Walmart, which had set up a giving tree for shoppers to grab a name when they went into the store.

 

"They would take names off the tree shop for that individual and then leave it back, whether wrapped or unwrapped, at Walmart. Or some were dropped off at the station directly. But they were all delivered at different times and we would go pick up gifts and keep track of the names on the list and make sure they got everything," Rob Leary, president of Pittsfield Fire Fighters Local 2647 union.

 

"The generosity from Berkshire County was huge. This was more than we could ever imagine. There was over 350 gifts that came in this year. It was incredible to see the amount of outpouring." 

 

The firefighters took multiple trips back and forth to Walmart, wrapped presents, and even shopped for a couple names on the list themselves. The kept track of the progress, checking off names and organizing the stacks of presents. 

 

A few days after receiving some 50 names to put on the tree, Blache got another call from the Fire Department. They needed 50 more names.

 

"Every single one of those 100 kids got a present. That is awesome," Blache said.

 

Then on Friday, the firefighters picked up Santa and headed over to the center. The children had all gathered inside to sing Christmas carols before staff got them all dressed up for the cold weather and brought them out to the front stairs.

 

Around the corner came the fire truck with Santa on the front and roars of cheers and screams erupted. 

 

Santa meandered through the crowd to the gymnasium and the 100 children were given their gifts, gifts that came from members of the community.

 

"It's a good feeling to know there are this many people in our community who step up to help out another child," Brigham Center CEO Kelly Marion said.

 

"It was pretty special. It was definitely not something I've seen in the 28 years I've been here."

 

Leary said this was the first year the union took on this project, though they have a number of other community-based programs. They provide scholarships, they collect warm coats for children, delivered presents to the Department of Children and Families, and more. This is just their latest in their efforts to give back to the community.

 

"We like to see [the children] in this time rather than in some of other times we see them. It is a lot better to see the smiling, happy faces that we see today," Leary said.

 

And every single one of the children at the center will have that smile when they return from the Christmas break because all, not just some, got something special for Christmas.

 

"Watching the kids here who grow up here, to know that they are going to have something special for them for Christmas, it puts them all on the same playing field... When we all come here on the 27th and open the doors and the kids all talk about what they got, we know everybody is going to talk about something," Marion said. 

 

"That's the hardest thing, when we have children who do have stuff and kids that don't have stuff. To be able to provide for them is a special, selfless act."

 

So some may doubt if Santa is real and how he alone can make sure every good little boy and girl receives presents on Christmas. But maybe there really is some magic involved.