Breakfast with Santa
When: 8 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Dec. 13.
Where: Sequim Middle School cafeteria, 301 W. Hendrickson Road.
Cost: $5 for ages 2- through 10-years-old and $7 for anyone 11 years old and older. Tickets available at door or online at bfastwsanta.brownpapertickets.com.
More info: Contact Nicole Brewer, program director at First Teacher, 681-2250.
Continuing a 23-year-old tradition, staff and volunteers with First Teacher, a program of the Parenting Matters Foundation, will be hosting Breakfast with Santa this Saturday.
Children and community members will have the opportunity to interact with one another, meet Santa and share in a breakfast feast of scrambled eggs, potatoes, ham, cinnamon rolls and plenty of orange juice and hot coffee.
“It’s a really neat event that supports young children at the same time,” Cynthia Martin, president of the Parenting Matters Foundation, said. “We encourage anyone to come and enjoy a good breakfast with good company and entertainment.”
Although Breakfast with Santa has taken place for more than two decades, this will be the second year officials with First Teacher have presented it, as it was previously organized by members of Citizens for Sequim Schools.
“For years, we used to do a winter celebration, but after we were approached about taking over this event we decided to combine the two,” Martin said. “It has worked out really well.”
Through collaboration with local businesses, community volunteers and the school district food services, First Teacher staff will have a variety of craft activities and toy trains for participating children to play with. Additionally, the high school choir is prepared to sing and among the many prizes and gift certificates, a Libtech snowboard valued at $330 is scheduled to be raffled off.
Beyond the core organizers working to make the event a success, First Teacher program director Nicole Brewer anticipates about 40 volunteers Saturday morning, she said.
“This event really draws the community together and provides a very special experience for the little ones,” Brewer said.
The Breakfast with Santa tradition has long instilled a sense of “wonderment” in children and Brewer believe it’s the “community passion” that has kept the annual event alive and well.
Expanding on the lasting experience, staff with First Teacher have arranged to send each child away with a new book on Saturday; thus, instead of candy canes, Santa will have a book for every child that visits him.
“Whenever a child participates in a First Teacher activity we try to send them home with a book because we really encourage early literacy,” Brewer said.
Together, Dungeness Kids Co., The Jace Real Estate Company and Arthur Buhrer with Clift Mortgage sponsored this year’s Breakfast with Santa while DJ O.B.1. and Hermann Brothers Logging & Construction made “significant donations,” Brewer said. “We could not make the event such a great experience without all the support and contributions.”
All proceeds raised Saturday morning help to support the First Teacher program that began in Sequim in 1990 to provide parents with the tools and skills to encourage healthy early childhood development. The program continues to expand and now reaches more than 700 children and 1,173 parents.
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
