OAKFIELD, Maine — The Oakfield Community Center was filled with appreciative parents and excited children on Saturday, Dec 8. The inaugural “Mike and Heidi Community Christmas” took place from noon to 2 p.m.
Approximately 120 candy bags were handed out to children after sitting on Santa’s lap to share their brief, and sometimes not so brief, Christmas wishes. Besides seeing Santa, everyone had an opportunity to stop at the “Letter Writing Station” to compose a personal letter to Santa.
All letters were then forwarded to Santa’s support staff, where they received a response the following week. There was also a traditional “guess how many in the jar” game, but instead of the traditional candies, they were small yellow goldfish. Aspen Gallop was the lucky guesser, guessing 550, only five off from the actual count of 555.
Kids enjoyed a couple other games, throwing hoops on reindeer antlers and snowballs in the mouth of an Abominable Snowman. Cookies, plenty of hot chocolate and fruit juices were consumed in significant volume. All families attending received a complimentary frozen turkey.
“Clearly, our first event was a success by all standards. Great turnout, and the volunteers that showed up to decorate Friday evening and help with Saturday’s event was incredible,” said Ken Bustard, president of the Mike and Heidi Community Fund. “The Oakfield Fire Department generously donated the candy, and even delivered Santa in their fire engine, sirens and lights on full blast. We got 100 turkeys from Oakfield Thriftway at cost.
“On top of all that, several people made donations during the day. One pretty sizeable donations from an individual, $500 from Kohl’s and donations from Machias Savings Bank and Katahdin Trust will pretty much cover the cost of turkeys. We thought we would be taking the cost of 100 turkeys out of our savings, not expecting such great financial support. It was a great day, and we already have ideas to increase the wow factor next year.”
This event was a joint effort between the Board Members of Mike and Heidi Community Fund and Oakfield Fire Department. Monday night following the event, five employees from Kohls Department Store assisted answering the letters to Santa. Their volunteer time will be recognized with a $500 donation from Kohl’s. Machias Savings Bank and Katahdin Trust provided unsolicited financial donations toward the event.
Anyone wishing to assist with next year’s event can get more information by contacting Shannon Lloyd (267-0480) or Bustard (659-2018). There is also a Facebook event page “Mike and Heidi Community Christmas.”
