submitted
Clarendon County School District community and
staff lent their hearts and hands to spread holiday cheer to families throughout the school district. During
the holiday season, many families become stressed due to their inability to provide items on their child’s
Christmas List. With the help of the community and staff in the district, many CCSD students will have a
Very Merry Christmas.
“It’s been a bad year with Covid,” stated Elizabeth Floyd, CCSD parent. “This makes the kids
happy because that is what matters.”
As parents picked up gifts for their students gifted from community sponsors and CCSD staff,
they shed tears and showed how grateful they were by leaving a handwritten note to whoever sponsored
their child(ren).
“I feel wonderful and thankful; I love it,” stated Sylvia Cooper, a CCSD parent. “This is a big relief
because my daughter was in an accident and is now paralyzed, and I lost my mother this year and my
father at Christmas two years ago. I don’t know what I would do if it weren’t for Ms. Ruby Simmons.”
“It makes me so proud to know that we have a school to stand behind our kids and work with
them and see that they have a Merry Christmas,” stated Joseph Robison, a tearful CCSD parent. “This is
a school I came to (referring to Walker Gamble Elementary), and it has been this way as long as I have
known. They may build a new school but won’t change the way it goes because the staff here are some
of the best in Clarendon County.”
A holiday wish list is created for each school sponsor to gather gifts for each child in the
household. Parents fill out a handwritten “Thank you” note at the time of gift pick up, and that note goes
back to the sponsor, letting them know how appreciative the families are for their help.
Ms. Ruby Simmons, Walker Gamble Elementary School Counselor, lost her husband in August
and knew how tough the holidays could be for some families.
“You have to have hope and do nice things for others,” Ms. Simmons stated as she handed gifts
to another CCSD parent.
