KIMBERLY GATES spends Friday morning sorting through boxes and bags of donated items for the annual holiday fair for Dike-Newell and Fisher-Mitchell elementary schools in Bath. Gates said she needs about 5,800 donated items to ensure that students will have enough gifts to bring home from the fair, which is scheduled to take place Dec. 12 and 13 at Dike- Newell School.
ITEMS DONATED to the Dike-Newell and Fisher-Mitchell elementary schools’ annual holiday fair are destined to become gifts for parents and siblings of the students.
Each year, donated “yard-sale” items have lined a school gymnasium, and students have wandered, class by class, up and down the aisles selecting costume jewelry, a small tool or other item that a volunteer would then wrap, tag and hand to them to take home and place under the tree.
This year, however, donations are down. To provide enough gifts for all 580 students who attend Dike-Newell and Fisher-Mitchell schools, organizer Kimberly Gates said she needs about 5,800 items.
“A lot of these kids have eight family members,” she said. “ I’m not even halfway there.”
Gates said Thursday that unless more of the yard sale-type items are donated this week, she may have to cancel the fair for one of Bath’s two elementary schools.
This year’s fairs are scheduled for Dec. 12 and 13 at Dike-Newell School. Gates said she hopes to gather enough donations before Dec. 12 for both fairs to take place.
If so, on Monday, Dec. 12, thirdthrough fifth-graders will board a bus donated by Bert’s Oil Service for the day. Former Fisher-Mitchell School principal Larry Dyer, who donates his time each year, will drive the bus, Gates said.
Class by class, the students will head to the Dike-Newell gym to comb the tables in search of the perfect gifts for their siblings and parents.
After completing their gift quest, the students will pay their quarters and head to the wrapping tables, which are staffed by volunteers.
On Dec. 13, the fair will be repeated for younger students from Dike- Newell, who walk down the hallways to the gym.
All children can participate, including those who don’t have quarters. Gates said she’s ready with a pocketful each year.
“My favorite story is that my son, when he was in first grade, bought me one earring,” Gates said, smiling. “I still have it. They don’t care. They just want to pick it out themselves and have it be a gift. Parents call me and say, ‘The look on my baby’s face when I opened up that present they picked out was amazing.’”
The holiday fairs also benefit two anonymous families — one from each school — whose Christmases are paid for with the quarters collected.
To donate “yard sale” items to the holiday fairs, drop them off until Dec. 12 during regular school hours at Dike- Newell School, 3 Wright Drive, Bath.
Items do not have to be new, Gates said, but cannot include food or clothing. She’s also looking for more wrapping paper and self-adhesive gift tags.
“Anything that would make an appropriate gift for a mom, a dad or a teenager,” she said, such as costume jewelry, candles or tools.
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