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Atlanta Elves Fill Gibsonton Gift Orders

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

GIBSONTON - Santa Claus doesn't always have a North Pole address.

On Thursday, Santa sent a truckload of gifts from his Atlanta workshop to the 45 students in Gibsonton Elementary School's after-school program.

The gifts came from the 40 employees of Seko Worldwide's Atlanta branch, where Henry Lutz is general manager at the freight transport company. Lutz's sister, Kathy, is coordinator of the after-school program and called on her brother and his firm to help provide gifts for the children.

"I see the need here," Kathy Lutz said. "I do what I can; I buy clothes for some of the kids and take them out to dinner. But Christmas is a big order."

The children had sent letters to Santa at his Atlanta address with their Christmas wishes, and his elves helped with the right sizes and colors.

Henry Lutz posted a spreadsheet with each child's name and gift list sign-up sheet on the door of the break room at Seko.

A Seko contractor shipped the gifts to the Seko Tampa location at no cost and Seko Tampa employees drove the presents to the school and distributed them Thursday afternoon from the back of the truck.

Migdalia Serrano, 8, sat in the cafeteria clutching her large wrapped present to her chest waiting for the signal to open it. When the paper was torn away, Santa had sent her just what she had ordered, a Little Pet Shop.

There were also bicycles, MP3 players, skateboards and Transformers galore.

Liz Bleau

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