Swift Creek program helps 17 families this year
By Sande Snead CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Noah Coen (top from left), John Maiorana and Benjamin Lake organize gifts to be distributed to 17 families in need at Swift Creek Elementary School. The school’s annual holiday gift program was renamed the Carol Deaton Holiday Project in memory of a beloved secretary who was killed in an automobile accident. Deaton (bottom left) worked at Swift Creek when it first opened.

Carol Deaton, a beloved former secretary at Swift Creek Elementary School, would have been among the first to help someone else in need. That’s why the school’s annual holiday Gator Gift Program became the Carol Deaton Holiday Project after she died in a car crash in 1995.

“She was not at our school any longer at the time of her death,” said Swift Creek Guidance Counselor Ann Anderson. “She had followed the principal to Ettrick Elementary, but she made quite an impact when she was here.”

Through the Carol Deaton Holiday Project, the school and community provide gifts, food and gift certificates to families in need at Swift Creek Elementary each year. The project will benefit 17 families this year. Students and their families donate to the project or sponsor families as do local businesses and organizations such as women’s clubs and scout troops.

Elli Morris/Chesterfield Observer

Girl Scout Troop 563 is participating in the project for the first time this year. The troop just formed last spring. Troop Leader Michelle Jamieson said she was compelled to get her first and second graders involved when she learned how many families were in need at Swift Creek Elementary.

“We are getting gifts for a family – a mother, father and two girls. One is a fourthgrader at Swift Creek and her sister is older. The response has been great. I just sent an e-mail out, and people have let me know, ‘I’ve picked up a man’s sweater.’ I picked up a bike at Target, and they put it together for me.”

This is the 17th year of the program.

“This is the most families we’ve ever had in one year,” Anderson said. “It’s a wonderful tribute to Carol. She was here the first year I was the counselor, and I think she was the counselor before I got here. She loved children and especially loved helping those with different needs. She was vivacious and enjoyed her job. She was a joy to be around.”

SunTrust Bank has been participating in the project for the last three years. Pauline Burnette, administrative assistant in retail, said three SunTrust departments each take a family. Burnette and a co-worker collected money and then took a day off to go shopping for the retail department.

“We had an 11-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl, a teenager in college and a mother,” Burnette said. “We got a skateboard for the boy and a CD player for the girl and mostly clothes for the teenager and mom. We love to do it. A child should always have Christmas.”