Like millions of other children, 5-year-old Mathew Shiferaw could hardly wait to open his presents on Christmas morning. He rose before dawn and thrilled to the gifts beneath the tree.

"He was so happy I videotaped it," said his mother, Hiruth.

		But unlike most kids' gifts, the presents that Mathew unwrapped-a Big Wheel, a football and baseball glove-did not come from anyone he knew. They came from the fifth graders at P.S. 89. Mathew and 39 other children-most underprivileged and many of them the victims of neglect-had a merrier Christmas last month because the P.S. 89 students and the school's staff raised $2,500 to pay for the gifts. "Everything sparkled and shined," said Jill Pedersen, a social worker at the Edwin Gould Services for Children, where Dear Santa letters were solicited from young clients. "You knew kids were going to get a special Christmas." Indeed, the P.S. 89 students made sure that every child got everything on his or her list.
The most expensive presents-three children got bikes-were paid for out of the pockets of school staff members, including Principal Ronnie Najjar. But most of the money came from a holiday café, where kids sold drinks, baked goods, handmade holiday cards and bracelets. They solicited money from their families and made their own fliers. "With just two weeks notice they threw this thing together and they did so well," said Colleen Holman, a speech and language therapist at the school who volunteers for New York Cares. Holman started it all by bringing a few of the children's letters from the agency to school and asking other teachers if they would like to be secret Santas. Najjar immediately saw an opportunity for students to learn about giving. "She took the ball and ran with it," said Holman. For children who are "afforded a lot," Najjar said, "this really is a time to do something that's meaningful, to take the opportunity to think about people other than themselves." The fifth graders not only got the chance to give, they also learned something about the children who would receive. In class, letters from the kids were put on an overhead projector and, as Najjar put it, "we talked a little about domestic violence, about why children go into temporary housing and, without revealing too much, we discussed who the child was and why she might be asking for that kind of present." "My mom is in prison and we visit her every month," a letter from a 12-year-old girl stated. "I love my mother and my two sisters. I am behaving good at school and at home. I would like to get a boom box or a CD player." "For Christmas I would like to have new clothes," an 11-year-old girl requested. "…I did not get new clothes for school." Each P.S. 89 fifth-grader had his or her own job, and for some it was joining the holiday crowds and buying the presents. Adults who accompanied them said it was gratifying to see boys trying to choose between a blond or brunette Barbie, or standing in line to pay for a little boy's pajamas. Generosity, as it turned out, came naturally. "I feel good that we're giving instead of taking away," said Philip Lombardo after loading gifts into a car for delivery to the agency. "I like giving stuff to people who need it."