Photo By Derika Upshaw | Sophie Curiel, 2, and Luke Curiel, 4, take a picture with Santa during the Christmas...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas — The holiday spirit came early for many military children this year with the Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place holding their annual Christmas in July event July 24 at the nonprofit’s workshop on the installation.
“So we kind of wanted to revamp the event, make it more of a community outreach, to bring in the kids and the families so we can maybe mingle with them, communicate with them, let them know a little bit more about the organization and what we do, and hope that it helps spread the word in the future for applications to get our numbers larger this year,” said Kismet Canady, president of Santa’s Workshop.
Canady noted last year was hectic with families wrapped around the building, over 1,000 people steadily coming through over three hours. This year the organization had families register for time slots to come and create fun activities for the children to participate in a change that was appreciated by the families.
“I think it’s really well done,” said Sgt. Bubba Sams, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. “I like how they provide snacks. They have activities in the front and back to keep kids entertained, and they kept it spaced out so there’s not a lot of crowding. So, I think that it’s flowing very well.”
Genesis Andrus, an Army spouse, said she wanted to come to the event because she thought it would be nice for her daughters, and they were doing something fun for the children. Andrus waited to surprise her daughters with the event.
“I saved it until this morning to let them know,” she said, “and they were like, ‘What, Santa? What, is it Christmas?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, he didn’t want to wait all year to see you guys. So, he said, ‘You know what, we’re going to go in July to go visit all the kids.’’ … They were so excited, they dressed in their red dresses and everything.”
The purpose of the event is to clear the nonprofit’s past year’s inventory to make space for new donations, and additionally to garner preapplications from families for the organization’s Shop Days this Christmas.
“We’re opening up a preapplication for them to get the numbers started and to get some engagement on what the kids are going to want as far as items and toys and stuff for us to purchase,” Canady said. “So we can’t give (the toys) out during the Christmas time, so we came up with this event to still give it to the community as it was meant to instead of sending it to a thrift shop where families would have to pay for (it)…because that’s what our donors wanted.”
Canady’s team tried to make sure enough families registered to participate in Christmas in July so all the items would be distributed, however, the team is thinking about doing an additional event if that is not the case.
“But if we do have extra stuff, there will be a small sign up,” she said. “It’ll be more like families come get something and leave.”
Applications for Shop Days open Sept. 1-5 and Oct. 6-10. For information about Shop Days and eligibility, visit Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place online at santasworkshopgp.org.
| Date Taken: | 07.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2025 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 544422 |
| Location: | TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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