By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Before the pound-pound-pound of hammers began, and even before the bearded man himself made an appearance, 9-year-old Makayla Dillard had a grin from ear to ear.
“It feels like Christmas now,” Dillard, a second-grader at Koontz Elementary, said Friday during class.
On the last day of school before Christmas break, Lori Smith’s second-grade class had some special activities.
Smith’s husband, Tom, is the pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Salisbury. The church presented gifts to Smith’s students.
And Mark Collins, who attends the church and works at Lowe’s, helped each student in the class build a wooden game set.
Donning a home improvement apron and safety goggles while holding a hammer, 7-year-old Zachary Miller said he had never built anything before.
“Everybody’s hammering,” Miller said as he set to work on his wooden mini-basketball hoop.
Miller and his classmates didn’t know what was coming next.
But they squealed with surprise when Smith took them to the school’s cafeteria, where Santa arrived.
“Have you all been good?” Santa asked.
And they replied in unison: “Yeah!”
To reward them for a year on the “nice” list, Santa handed out presents.
Choking back emotion, Lori Smith said, “Boys and girls, these are some people from my church who want you to have a very merry Christmas.”
Some people assume kids don’t like to get clothes for Christmas.
But Smith’s second-graders didn’t seem to mind.
The church had raised almost $2,000 to buy the 19 students in Smith’s class each a new school uniform.
At Koontz, students wear khaki, black or navy-colored pants and collared shirts.
Eight-year-old Lejla Mehmedovic smiled when she unwrapped her gift.
“I love it,” she said.
OK, nobody got a cell phone ó which is what 7-year-old Leon Woods wants for Christmas ó but students need uniforms.
At Koontz, the need might be higher than at other local schools.
In October, nearly 86 percent of Koontz students received free or discounted lunch. That’s the highest percentage among Rowan-Salisbury elementary schools.
Smith said she knows some of the students in her class needed more uniforms.
Some parents who work a second shift can’t wash their kids’ uniforms as often as is necessary, Smith said.
As the mother of a second-grader at Koontz, Smith said she feels like she’s constantly doing laundry.
“I think it would be nice to have one (uniform) for every day of the week,” she said.
During these trying economic times, many families need assistance, said Ricky Dunlap, principal at Koontz.
“We have a pretty good supply (of extra uniforms,) but it’s dwindled a lot,” Dunlap said.
Sometimes the school staff washes uniforms for students, he said. And the school tries to help out in tough situations.
When a family’s house burned, Dunlap said, the school offered the children uniforms.
So, with a shrinking supply, Dunlap was pleased with the gifts for his second-graders.
“I’m grateful for any and all assistance we can get,” he said.
The church also bought socks, hats, scarves, gloves, crayons, pencils and other goodies for the kids.
Every student in Smith’s class got presents, along with some students in the school’s other four second-grade classes.
The church asked the teachers which students had a need, Tom Smith said.
He said church members had already donated a few coats to children at Koontz.
“When (Lori Smith) gave them the coats, it was like giving them gold,” her husband said. “They were ecstatic.”
The donations to Koontz were part of the church’s December mission project. Members tackle a different project each month.
Tom Smith said he hopes the church can help out at Koontz again.
“We’ll do it every year, good Lord willing,” he said.