Did you know that Santa had the power to turn off an NFL Sunday Night Football Game?! It was a Dallas Cowboys game to boot!

Our AIRC Program Partner, Marion, and her husband, Bill, have a regular meal each Sunday for the Rosebud community on the Rosebud Reservation. This past holiday, they wanted to do more than the meal and enlisted the help of the American Indian Relief Council (AIRC) Program to help jazz things up a bit. The meal was great, but Marion didn’t want the people to go home empty handed on this particular night.

After everyone got their bellies full while watching the close matchup between Dallas and Philadelphia, the lights went out. Marion called out, “Turn off the TV!” There was no hemming or hawing; just an excited silence surrounded the room. The lights were then restored and Santa majestically entered the room!

As Santa weaved in and out of the tightly arranged table and chairs, he offered a hearty sincere hand shake and gave out hugs to those needing something extra from him. Volunteers tried to get a version of “Jingle Bells” started, but the singers that were most likely to get the ball rolling — the kids — were too captivated with Santa to lend their voices to the holiday tune.

It took Santa a while to circulate the whole room, but once he did, he took a seat at the front of the room to begin his next undertaking… individually handing out over two hundred stockings to their rightful owners! Boxes and boxes were filled to the brim with different colored stockings. There were blue and white stockings for the babies. Red and White were for the youth. As Santa settled himself, his helpers slid the boxes up closer to Santa’s chair. When he was ready, Marion called out for the babies to come and get their stockings.

The families were so excited to see their children happy. Some of the babies were too small to retrieve their own, but none appeared to be scared of Santa. The youth and teens were next. Two young girls showed each other the special bear that was part of their stocking stuffing. One young girl began playing and talking to hers as soon as she removed from her stocking. Other kids waited patiently for Santa. There wasn't any pushing or shoving from this group — just some tippy-toe peeking over one another’s shoulder until it was their turn.

After each child received their AIRC stocking, Marion called up all the school-aged children. Another bag, a green one, was filled with school supplies that she had purchased so the students could go back to school after the holiday well prepared. A college student approached a volunteer and asked, "Do you think I can get one of those bags? I’m in college." Marion was more than happy to hand one over to the young woman to encourage her to continue with her studies.

If the two bags weren’t exciting enough, a small group of volunteers drove a small trailer from Kentucky and began offering a variety of new or gently used coats and clothing for the entire group to choose from. Marion knows how to get people to her Sunday dinners. It was also abundantly clear that she knew how to garner resources from various sources to create a festive, warm, and nourishing Christmas event.

Thank you for your wonderful support!