Gingerbread Express 2006

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Where there’s a need, there’s a pile of gifts

 For thousands of Rhode Island children, the holiday season arrives as promised, with family celebrations filled with gifts, food, and special memories. But for thousands of others who are not so fortunate, this can be a bleak time of year. For some of them, the National Education Association Rhode Island (NEARI) Children’s Fund is the answer to their dreams.
 This is the 15th anniversary of the Children’s Fund Gingerbread Express – an anonymous gift-giving program with the goal of helping to ensure that needy children throughout the state experience a joyful holiday season. Hundreds of Rhode Island teachers and school and public employees and other friends of the Fund have stepped up to help more than 2000 students who face every day without proper clothing and other basic necessities.
  Students in Chariho, North Smithfield, East Providence, Westerly, South Kingstown, Smithfield, Tiverton, North Kingstown, Coventry, Jamestown, Narragansett, Warwick, Burrillville, East Greenwich, Newport, Cumberland, Narragansett, Foster, Glocester, Ponaganset, and Nickerson Community Center (Providence) received gifts this year through the Gingerbread Express. In some cases, entire families were “adopted” by classrooms or individuals.
 Most gifts were delivered quietly through the front office of each school. However, D’Abate School in Providence received its gifts by special delivery December 14. A tractor-trailer donated by Teamsters Local 251 was stacked to the rooftop with giant bags for all 425 students, and volunteer gingerbread “cookies” and elves helped stage a holiday party for the children. A highlight was the reading of “The Tale of the Gingerbread Express,” by special guests Providence firefighter Tony Estrella and NEA staffer Dennis Slaughter.
 Also through the Gingerbread Express program, state senators and their families adopted students from Providence’s Nickerson House. Representatives from Nickerson collected the gifts at the State House December 15. The office of Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano organizes this project every year.
 “We couldn’t have done it without the incredible time and effort put forth by scores of volunteers,” says NEARI President Larry Purtill. “Thank you all for sharing your treasures this holiday season.”