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| (L-R) Dr. Leonel Vela, Dr. Adela Valdez, Officer Manuel Flores, Cpl. Darrell Earhart, Lt. Adam Trevino | |
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This holiday season will be a lot brighter for thousands of sick or hospitalized children in San Antonio and South Texas, thanks to the Health Science Center's Gifts for Children program. Close to 5,000 gifts will be distributed this year.
The Health Science Center’s annual “Winter Wonderland” holiday reception attracted more than 3,000 employees who piled thousands of gifts under the traditional Gifts for Children Christmas tree in the auditorium foyer.
“I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to continue to chair our Gifts for Children program,” said Patti Lairsey, Gifts for Children coordinator. “It is amazing to see how much the program has grown. Our employees are so dedicated to gathering and distributing these gifts for children each year. None of this could be done without all of our volunteers.”
University of Texas police officers at the Regional Academic Health Centers (RAHC) in Harlingen and Edinburg headed the Gifts for Children program in the Rio Grande Valley this year. Through various fundraisers, the campuses raised thousands of dollars throughout the year to benefit the program.
“This past year we delivered an estimated 500 gifts to children at the Driscoll Children’s Center at Valley Baptist Medical Center for Christmas, Easter, birthdays and other special visits,” said Lt. Adam Trevino, UT Police commander in Harlingen and Gifts for Children coordinator. “We also donated board games, books, crafts and other items for the children’s activity rooms.”
Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H., regional dean; Adela Valdez, M.D., assistant regional dean; Lt. Trevino; Cpl. Darrell Earhart, UT Police; Manuel Flores, UT Police, and Maricela Medina of Driscoll Children’s Center of Valley Baptist Medical Center will be distributing gifts on Dec. 19 and again on Christmas day.
Children at Laredo Medical Center and Doctors Hospital in Laredo will also receive gifts next week, thanks to the help of Health Science Center employees and students in San Antonio and Laredo.
