{"id":242517,"date":"2024-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=242517"},"modified":"2024-08-01T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T17:18:49","slug":"holiday-season-arrives-early-at-the-great-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=242517","title":{"rendered":"Holiday season arrives early at The Great Place"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Alistair Burton, 4, and Gabriel Baysden, 6, pose with Santa Claus while holding the gift baskets they chose July 25, 2024, during the Christmas in July event hosted by Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Camden Thibodeaux, 5, and Aiden Thibodeaux, 9, smile while holding the toys they chose to take home from Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place’s Christmas in July event July 25, 2024, at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Parents look through an array of terms, including holiday decorations, July 25, 2024, during the Christmas in July event by Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 <\/strong>Families July 25 formed a line that wrapped around the Clear Creek Commissary and eagerly waited for the doors of Santa\u2019s Workshop at The Great Place to open for their annual Christmas in July event.<\/p>\n

Santa\u2019s Workshop at The Great Place is a nonprofit dedicated to serving the Fort Cavazos community by providing toys to active duty families with children ages 6 months to 12 years old during the holiday season.<\/p>\n

Once the doors opened, families stepped out of the Texas summer heat and into a winter wonderland where parents could learn about other nonprofit organizations on post and take home different holiday supplies.<\/p>\n

Children were able to take home a large toy, a book and a few smaller toys, as well as speak to and take a photo with Santa himself.<\/p>\n

Alyssa Jastremski attended the event with her two children and said the event can bring some holiday cheer to families whose Soldier was gone during the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlus, it brings people together,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Kismet Canady, president of Santa\u2019s Workshop at The Great Place, said the event is not only a great way to make space for the new toys and items the organization will receive for this year\u2019s holiday season, but a great way to serve even more of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love the idea of giving these free items out to the families,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot different than the shop days because that\u2019s specific to active duty military families, and this is open to all the military families.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization receives donations year-round, and not all of the items they receive are Christmas related. Halloween and Easter decor and items were available for families to take home during the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me happy that the word got out and that people are actually showing up,\u201d Canady said, adding some families had started forming the line two hours before opening time for the first-come, first-serve event. \u201cI want to thank everyone who has come out to support this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santa\u2019s Workshop at The Great Place is currently looking for volunteers to be elves during their shop season. Elves help families navigate the inventory and find the perfect gift for their child.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving people here to help walk them through the shopping process is very important to us,\u201d Canady said.<\/p>\n

Monetary donations can also be made through the organization\u2019s website, and there is a link to an Amazon list where toys can be purchased for donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce September (or) October rolls around we\u2019ll have a list of different businesses and organizations that will have donation boxes out,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, if you\u2019re out and about shopping and want to get a toy, you can find a drop box and drop it in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on volunteer opportunities and ways to donate to Santa\u2019s Workshop at The Great Place, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.santasworkshopgp.org\/<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Alistair Burton, 4, and Gabriel Baysden, 6, pose with Santa Claus while holding the gift baskets they chose July 25, 2024, during the Christmas in July event hosted by Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place at Fort Cavazos, Texas. (Photo Credit: Photo by Blair Dupre, Fort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242519,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242517"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242523,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242517\/revisions\/242523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/242519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}