'Santa is real': Rocky Mountain High's Adopt-A-Family brightens holidays for 68 families

A young boy’s eyes lit up as he saw a new bicycle for his little sister and excitedly pointed it out to her.

He teared up about a minute later when he saw two more bicycles — one for himself and one for another sister — being pushed behind four carts of wrapped Christmas gifts and some household necessities Saturday at Rocky Mountain High School.

“See, Santa is real,” said Sandra Weeks, a science teacher at the school who was handing out frozen turkeys to families that wanted them.

Rocky Mountain’s annual Adopt-A-Family program distributed more than $85,000 worth of food, merchandise and gift cards to 68 families this year, said assistant principal Tyler Nickel, who oversaw this year’s collection and distribution.

The program was started at Rocky Mountain in 1996 by a student as a Peer Counselors outreach program and has been held every year since, even during the COVID-19 pandemic when they had to reduce the number of families served from the usual 70 or so to 30, Nickel said.

It’s back in full swing now, though.

Nearly 300 of the school’s 2,000 students and dozens of staff members, both current and former, were on hand Saturday to help with the distribution process. Families on the receiving end, nearly all of which had current or future students at Rocky Mountain or one of its feeder elementary or middle schools, were overwhelmed with emotion. Some gasped in disbelief and others were in tears as they saw cart after cart of items that had been collected for each of them over the past several weeks.

“It's one of the most rewarding things that I’ve ever personally done,” said Josephine Demaret, a peer and senior at the school. “It’s awesome to see how everyone reacts and how happy they are. It really shows how big of an impact something like maybe $10 can make for somebody.

“It’s really great to be part of a community that can give back to our community.”

Each of Rocky Mountain’s second-period classes, the homerooms, are assigned a family to adopt each fall. Beattie Elementary School and Saint Spyridon Orthodox Church in Loveland also participate, with Beattie adopting one family each year and Saint Spyridon adopting three.

Families “that could use a little extra help,” school secretary Holly Collingwood said, are identified by staff at Rocky Mountain and its feeder schools. Families generally are adopted for two years apiece, Nickel said.

The homeroom classes, elementary school and church are given basic information about the family, including ages, genders and clothing sizes. The checklist families fill out also includes a wish list of essential items, including food; household goods; personal care and baby care products; winter clothing and pet food and supplies for those with pets. It also includes a wish list of a small gift for each family member.

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What families often get, though, is far more.

Like that young boy when he saw the bicycles for himself and his sisters.

“He was talking to me, and he’s like, ‘I only asked for two small things; I didn’t think it would get a bike,' ” Demaret said. “He was just so happy. It’s just awesome to see them so excited and happy and to feel appreciated.”

Students in the homerooms collect donated new items, often purchased by the students or their parents, for their specific family — known to them only by a number to protect the anonymity of the recipients. Gifts are wrapped, and items quickly start filling up whatever available space there is in the classroom and the offices of teachers and other staff.

A table in Nickel’s office late last month was filled with dozens of winter coats, stacked by size, that her mother purchases for Adopt-A-Family each year during spring clearance sales. Underneath the table were other donated items, including a slow cooker and box of socks from the school’s football program.

Friday afternoon, in what staff members refer to as “The Great Migration,” the collected items were moved into the school’s commons area and placed on numbered tables, one for each family.

The distribution process Saturday was run like an assembly line. Families checked in at the front door, where they received an envelope containing gift cards to grocery and/or department stores, then were assigned a student in the Peer Counselors program to accompany them through the school.

The first stop was the media center, where kids were able to decorate cookies and get pictures taken with Santa. They could then make their own frames for their pictures at one of several arts and crafts stations run by various student groups. Bicycle helmets for all family members, provided through a partnership with a local bicycle shop, were available at one station, and Christmas stockings filled with a stuffed animal made by students at Dunn Elementary School were available at another. Hand-knitted hats, scarves and gloves made by current and former Rocky Mountain staff members were available, too, until they ran out.

After spending as much or as little time as they chose in the media center, the families were led out to the commons, where additional activities run by students were available for their children. Another group of students was mobilized to find that family’s table and load the items on and around it onto wheeled carts. As the carts were being filled, parents were directed to a station where they were given fresh produce, nonperishable canned and packaged food and, for those who wanted them, a frozen turkey or chicken to cook for a holiday meal.

Then they waited for their numbers to be called and their carts that students wheeled out to the parking lot with them to the parking lot. Other students filled the family’s vehicle and often a second “follow vehicle” — usually a pickup, SUV or van — followed them home with additional items that wouldn’t fit in their own cars.

Smaller families had two to three carts’ worth of stuff, while as many as seven or eight carts were needed for some of the larger families.

“It’s awesome — awesome insanity,” Nickel said.

Rae Wilson was there with a 1-year-old granddaughter and another family member. They were picking up food, including a turkey, and other items that were donated to her two daughters, who are both single moms struggling a bit to make ends meet.

“They get really stressed out, nervous about what they’re going to get their kids, so this helps out a lot,” she said.

Mataio Ma’ae, a 2006 graduate of Rocky Mountain, was there with his four kids, ages 2-9. They had filled a large box with craft projects and bicycle helmets that his student guide was carrying as they waited for their carts to be loaded.

“I’m making it through everything and paying bills, but it’s nice to give my kids a little something extra,” Ma’ae said.

He couldn’t help but marvel at the scope of what Adopt-A-Family has become. The program has provided essential goods and Christmas gifts for more than 1,500 families since its inception, Nickel said.

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“It’s almost like pay it forward but on a bigger scale, which is even more amazing," Ma’ae said. “Especially here at school. You’ve got students working on their academics and stuff still finding time to do something good for the people.”

Just about every school in the district has some sort of philanthropic program in place for the holidays.

Fossil Ridge High School also runs an Adopt-A-Family program, and Poudre High School has provided boxes of food to hundreds of families in need each holiday season for several decades. Traut Elementary’s Hat & Mitten Tree — which is collecting hats, gloves, mittens, scarves and socks through Dec. 20 that will be donated to Realities for Children and passed along to children in the community — is in its 30th year, a Poudre School District spokesperson said. Kruse Elementary, Cache la Poudre Middle School and several others in the district have annual Giving Trees for families in need.

All serve a purpose well beyond providing a helping hand to those who need it for the holidays.

Learning to serve others when you’re able is valuable lesson for people of all ages, Rocky Mountain High School principal Craig Woodall said. Rocky Mountain always has far more students wanting to help on distribution day than it can accommodate, so volunteer slots are offered first to seniors and juniors, with sophomores filling whatever remains. Freshmen rarely get the opportunity to help with the actual distribution, he said.

“I love it,” said Hank Brown, a peer and senior. “It’s one of my favorite things all year.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Rocky Mountain High Adopt-A-Family brightens holidays for 68 families