Daughter ensures late mom’s CCSD holiday gift drive keeps on giving

Susan Goldman was organizing a vacation acquisition thrust she started much than 20 years agone to payment stateless and exile students successful the Clark County School District past twelvemonth erstwhile she became sick with COVID-19.

She was hospitalized and died successful December 2020 astatine 74, conscionable 1 time aft the gifts were delivered.

Now her girl Mollie Fulwider, a caput for the schoolhouse district, is carrying connected her mother’s bequest and moving to guarantee it endures for years to come.

School territory attendance officers rounded up 24 vans connected Tuesday to prime up astir 450 gifts and astir 1,000 stockings astatine Orr Middle School successful Las Vegas. They were delivered to astir 32 schools to payment mostly Title I Homeless Outreach Program for Education (HOPE) students, arsenic good arsenic immoderate exile children.

As she helped determination gifts, Fulwider — who was wearing a pin with her mother’s photograph connected it — said she was feeling a wide scope of emotions, opening with a tearful commencement to the day.

But she besides was arrogant that her mom’s stocking thrust and privation database task was continuing.

“I cognize she would beryllium truthful blessed close now,” she said.

Early adjacent year, Fulwider plans to commencement looking into launching a instauration successful her mother’s sanction successful hopes of expanding the acquisition thrust successful the future.

Goldman worked for much than 2 decades successful the district, including arsenic task facilitator for Title I HOPE. She started the vacation acquisition thrust astir 22 years ago.

She loved the task and if a acquisition didn’t marque it to a pupil arsenic planned, Goldman would adjacent spell buying astatine midnight to marque definite that kid was taken attraction of, Fulwider recalled.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t halt Goldman from organizing the thrust again past year, though she wasn’t capable to spot it to completion aft becoming sick herself.

The schoolhouse territory was operating nether 100 percent region learning astatine the time, but Goldman had attendance officers travel to her backyard, wherever they sorted and loaded up the gifts.

Fulwider stepped into the relation this year, approaching the schoolhouse territory successful August and getting support successful precocious October.

It’s been a large undertaking, but she said she has received tons of help, including from her mother’s friends.

Donors from erstwhile years besides reached retired to her to get progressive again. And a fistful of schoolhouse territory campuses organized donation drives wherever students brought successful items to assistance capable the stockings.

“I’m conscionable overwhelmed with the magnitude of assistance everyone gave,” Fulwider said.

Each schoolhouse with students participating successful the programme provided a privation database with items requested and covering sizes. Among the gifts this twelvemonth were machine tablets, skateboards, clothes, toys and Bluetooth speakers.

Orr Middle School fto Fulwider usage its theatre to store the items and provided help, including from students, with sorting. Fulwider’s supervisor astatine the schoolhouse district’s cardinal offices allowed her immoderate clip to prosecute the project.

Pam Foltz, a elder attendance serviceman with the schoolhouse district, was among those helping Fulwider load gifts connected Tuesday. She said she antecedently worked with Goldman connected the project, 1 that attendance officers person been progressive with for astir 18 years.

She said Fulwider has taken connected an tremendous work to support it going, particularly since she has young children astatine home.

Foltz said she loves dropping disconnected gifts astatine schools and seeing however excited the unit are erstwhile they travel extracurricular to get the presents for their students.

“We conscionable request the assistance for the kids,” she said, referring to the perennial request for donors to support the task operating for aboriginal vacation seasons.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener astatine jgreener@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton connected Twitter.