Dot Santy is on a mission to save Christmas (and every day after school) for these Tucson kids

Presents are arranged under a big colorful Christmas tree by elves from the Dove Mountain Rotary Club.

Children gather, standing in orderly rows, eagerly waiting.

Jingle bells ring.

And then it happens — the moment the children of Project Yes have been waiting for. 

"Santa!" the children exclaim, as the man in red enters the room of the south side after school program Thursday afternoon.

 "I've been good today," a little girl in the front row says immediately. She knows how this works. 

After Santa determines they were all good, he calls them up one-by-one to personally give them each a gift.

They all say thank you and wish Santa a merry Christmas. 

When every child has a present, on the count of three, they are allowed to open them.

Within moments most of the gifts are open. 

Through scraps of torn paper, bows and packaging, the children play with their new gifts and show their friends what they got. 

"I got a Barbie!"

"I got a gift card to Target!"

Another child bounces his new soccer ball.

And another looks through his new deck of Pokemon cards. 

The toy delivery is organized by Dot Santy, who started providing Christmas gifts to the children enrolled in Project YES — an after-school program for under privileged children in South Tucson — about ten years ago. 

With the help of her friends, most living at The Highlands at Dove Mountain, they were able to create a "magical Christmas for both the children and the donors," Santy said.

Back then, it was mainly Dot and her husband John, who ran the event.

John even played the role of Santa.

"Seeing 100 little kids come up to you and hug you and smile, it blows your mind," John said. "They're beautiful little children." 

The Rotary Club has since become the sponsors of the Christmas event. 

But now, Project Yes is facing a bigger problem — a lack of funding for the main program, which led to new fees for families and low enrollment — and Santy is on a mission to help.

Families can't afford it

Because Project Yes lost at least a third of its grant funding, its parent organization, the Tucson Urban League, had to start charging families $30 per week to enroll their children in the after school program.

But, the families who need the program are living in poverty and cannot afford the fees, Santy said. 

"I was really fearful because people in South Tucson just don't have the money," said Sister Mary Anne McElmurry, who ran the program for 20 years before retiring in July. "I thought it would be kept low enough for them to keep coming, but that didn't happen."

As a result, enrollment has dropped dramatically, from more than 100 to 19. 

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Project Yes also has a preschool program with separate funds. So, a combined total of 33 children attend the facility. 

An important program

Participants of the program go to the Angel Family Center after school and receive homework help from tutors, use the computers, have arts and crafts and an afternoon snack. 

Parents have the assurance that their kids are safe and are getting their homework done.

"The kids we are helping are the kids that need it the most," said Kalani Franco, preschool teacher and director of Project YES. "If they don't have some sort of structure in their lives they'd be struggling because they come from single mother families where moms are working late...It alleviates the pressure off of everyone knowing the kids are getting homework done and are at a safe place and not being bullied."

Brenda Lopez has her 5-year-old son enrolled in the after school program. He just started two weeks ago, and she says it's a good place for him.

"I like how they work with the kids. Not a lot of programs do that. It's all about playtime," Lopez said. "It's his second week. It seems like nobody is fighting with him and the teachers are all nice."

Having the homework assistance is a huge part of the program, McElmurry said.

"Children really need to be there because they need the one-on-one help and we want to keep them in school," McElmurry said. "We'd talk to parents about their kid's homework and how they were doing and how to help them...I think the program did impact them. I saw many of the kids go on to high school over the 20-year period. At the beginning, they weren't going to high school."

Jannette Gastelum, a tutor and janitor at Project Yes, has had three of her kids go through the Project Yes program and one who is currently enrolled. She said it helped them have a better understanding of their homework and it helps them develop socially. 

Adolfo Del Sol, an 8-year-old third grader in the program enjoys going there after school every day. 

"I like that they help us with homework," Del Sol said. "I've learned how to read better here because of all the books."

Raising funds

Dot Santy has made it her personal mission to secure scholarship money for kids who need it to be enrolled in Project Yes.

"When Project Yes lost a large piece of its funding and then most of its children, I felt compelled to try to keep this excellent educational opportunity alive for these deserving children," Santy said. "I believe strongly that through education our youth can achieve great things. These children are such deserving children."

She started last year by calling her personal friends asking for support and was able to get thousands of dollars for the program.

This year, she wants to help more children. She gets names of children who need assistance, from McElmurry who stays involved in the background, and asks people to sponsor that child. 

So far, she has gotten scholarships for eight children provided by 11 sponsors. The last sponsor sent enough funding to add one more child the first of the year, Santy said. 

Claudia and John Holzemer are sponsoring two children whose mother became a single parent to five when her husband left about a year ago. 

"I was a single parent for a long time, so I know how hard that is," Claudia said. "So we decided to sponsor the two kids."

Santy is trying to find a sponsor for the family's youngest child, so the three of them can attend Project Yes together. 

"We have had great support from Dot and John Santy," McElmurry said. "They have been very good to us."

How to help

Parents who wanted to keep their kids enrolled, but couldn't afford it came to McElmurry saying their "kids really needed to be there," McElmurry said. 

"So, I talked to Dot and she and John went with it," McElmurry said. "It's been a real lifesaver for many kids."

The program is licensed for 85 students, so Santy would like to raise $35,000 to allow a full capacity of children just like it was before the new fee schedule. 

"I realize this only solves the problem for one year, so my goal is to develop a large number of sustaining donors to enable the program to remain viable for years to come," Santy said. 

Santy has set up a GoFundMe account in hopes of reaching her goal of $35,000, which can be found here.