Holidays in the Hangar
By Celeste Harms
An airline at SEATAC airport selected a 2nd grade class at Washington Elementary School to receive the Christmas wish of a lifetime. Many of these students are underprivileged and have experienced some level of trauma (involving parents who are addicted to drugs, incarcerated, or abusive). Some have never received a Christmas gift. The students and their teachers were transported to the airport in charter buses, where they received "passports" to board a plane to the North Pole. After closing the plane windows and driving the plane around the tarmac a few times, the pilots pull into a hangar decorated by volunteers to look like the North Pole. There, the children meet "elves" and Santa Claus, receive the gifts they had wished for without hope to receive (courtesy of donations from community members), and get to participate in festive and fun activities. Their joy was overwhelming and the volunteers wept at the response of these kids who perhaps needed this joy, most of all.
Volunteers, the second grade students and their teachers gather in the airport to begin their adventure.
This festive "Holiday in the Hangar" sign marks the meeting point for their voyage.
Members of the lucky classroom selected for "Holiday in the Hangar."
The kids' excitement is palpable as they sit alongside volunteers and prepare for their journey to the North Pole!
The overhead lights dim, the volunteer flight attendants walk the aisle one last time, and the plane "takes off" its voyage north.
Helpers dressed in elf hats, and one in a polar bear costume, greet the children after they disembark the plane.
A few young soccer fans beam as they meet players from the Seattle Sounders, who gift them with soccer balls.
Many of the children had never been on a plane before, and were awestruck to pose with it.
The childrens' joy was overwhelming and brought tears to the eyes of their teachers and the volunteers.
The volunteers and a teacher pose with a grateful and sweet student.