Naperville group provides gifts for 738 children

Santa's going to have to make a pit stop in Naperville on Christmas morning to restock the sleigh before making his deliveries to the city's boys and girls.

The Naperville Unit District 203 headquarters will serve as his pickup point where toys, games and monetary gifts donated by the community for 738 children await his arrival.

The donations have poured in throughout the past few weeks as part of the Naperville Education Foundation's annual Holiday Gift Project.

“We can't seem to keep up today because with every gift we're checking in, we're getting more brought in the door,” school services manager Maureen Dvorak said Wednesday. “The Naperville community is extremely supportive of this but our support also reaches beyond the Naperville border.”

The program was launched decades ago by the Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise and eventually grew too large. The education foundation took it over four years ago.

As part of the program, counselors and social workers from District 203 schools identify families and ask them to make wish lists for their kids.

Those lists are then given to Dvorak, who finds sponsors to either buy the gifts or make a suggested donation of $40 toward their purchase.

Initially the district was seeking gifts for 660 kids but Dvorak had more sponsors than kids and wound up getting presents for 738 children.

One such sponsor, Naperville businessman Dan Becker and his family, sponsored 18 children. He dropped his unwrapped gifts off Wednesday morning.

“I had some elves so it was kind of fun. My kids and I met at 11:30 last night and we made it a family event,” he said. “Bringing these in and seeing all these presents really makes my Christmas.”

Becker's gifts included board games, action figures, video games and some clothing. But Dvorak said many wish lists this year have included “the basics.”

“It's so sad that so many of the wish lists have the basics like coats, pajamas, mittens, hats and bedding,” she said. “One little boy wrote that he's never had his own pillow so he's getting three pillows this year.”

Helping the district's less fortunate “brings a lot of joy” to Dvorak and her roughly 40 volunteers. So much so, she said, she could be accused of organizing the drive out of selfishness.

“This has become part of my personal Christmas tradition now,” she said. “If I didn't do this at Christmas, it wouldn't be a Dvorak Christmas.”

The Holiday Gift Project is still accepting cash donations to cover the cost of some of the gifts that have been purchased.

“We are approaching $4,000 in donations alone, easily, which is very helpful because we've gotten to do a lot of shopping,” she said. “And I have a feeling we'll have a bit more last-minute things.”

For donation information, contact Maureen Dvorak at (630) 420-6446 or mdvorak@naperville203.org.