WESTFIELD-While Santa Claus anticipates making several stops throughout the city in the coming weeks, one visit at the top of his list is greeting children whose parents serve with the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base.
“As a military spouse myself, I can personally say as exciting as the holidays are, they can put a financial strain on military families that are on a limited budget,” said Brooke Calloway, coordinator of this holiday’s “Operation Santa” project that hosts a Christmas party for military children at Barnes. “Added on top of that is the stress and anticipation of upcoming training or deployments, or the decompression of recent ones, and often being away from family.”
Every year a Christmas party is conducted for the military families at the 104th Fighter Wing. This group shot is from 2017. (Submitted photo)
Calloway, who volunteers with Project New Hope, Inc., with an office at Hampton Ponds Plaza, noted she is seeking unwrapped gifts for children – from newborns to teenagers.
“We want to help ease those burdens by providing each military child a gift given directly from Santa,” said Calloway, noting that Project New Hope has formed a partnership with the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation to ensure every child receives a Christmas present.
At press time, Calloway noted the organizations are also sponsoring local Marine and Army units.
“Our totals are upwards of 400 children, not counting those in our Adopt-A-Military-Family Christmas gift program,” said Calloway. “In addition to toys, we are in need of gift cards for the teens. Popular gift cards for teens would be movie passes, restaurant cards and gas cards.”
Calloway said there are currently 300 children whose parents serve with the 104th Fighter Wing.
The deadline to drop off gifts is Nov. 29 at the Hampton Ponds office at 1029 North Road. Regular business hours are Monday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday, noon to 3 p.m, Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, noon to 3 p.m., and Friday, noon to 3 p.m.
“We do not want to exclude any military children solely because they are older,” said Calloway, adding, “Everyone deserves something for Christmas.”
Calloway said she is more than willing to schedule a time outside of those hours to meet donors, adding she can be contacted via email to [email protected] to make special arrangements.
Local businesses have also stepped up for “Operation Santa” by offering drop-off boxes, including Kelly’s Home & Garden, 81 Springfield Road; Governor’s Center, 66 Broad St.; The Hamptons Salon at Hampton Ponds Plaza, 1029 North Road, and Nitemare Tattoos, 3 Depot Square.
“If a business or organization is interested in running a toy drive for us, they can email me to set up a day and time for us to drop a pre-labeled donation box off,” said Calloway. “We will also personally pick the boxes back up at the end of the drive as well.”
While Calloway noted she has enough volunteers to work at the Christmas party, she said there is still a need for volunteers for future events and to work in the office so that hours can be extended. Persons interested in getting involved with Project New Hope can visit https://www.projectnewhopema.org/volunteer.
