Miller seventh-graders Martha Maldonado, Ashley Garcia, Lupita Almaguer, Iriskarina Pascual, Destiny Rodriguez and Salma Cortez watch over the hundreds of items donated to the Bridge Over Troubled Waters organization.
Senior-citizen centers, an animal shelter, food missions -- and one little girl who dreamed of getting a bicycle for Christmas -- were among the many recipients of Christmas giving gone wild at Miller Intermediate on Friday.
Students celebrated the school's "Acts of Kindness" drive by packing the school gym with gifts and assistance items. Every seventh- and eighth-grade homeroom participated in a collection project, some individually and some collectively.
Perhaps the highlight of the event was the presentation of a new bicycle to a former Miller student, Dorothea Jackson, who was forced to move across town several weeks ago after her mother was murdered. Dorothea had expressed a Christmas wish for a new bike.
She returned to Miller on Friday and was presented with a bike, and other gifts, by students in the PALS organization.
Several homerooms combined for a massive gift of supplies to the Pasadena Animal Shelter. Belinda Veazey, an officer at the shelter, brought along a four-month-old kitten, Eddie, to show students.
Eddie, Veazey said, is available for adoption.
Dorothea Jackson is all smiles after receiving a new bike from PALS students at Miller, several of whom are pictured here along with Miller teacher Kelly Marosko (far left) and Dorothea's former teacher, Erika Francis, decked out with a Santa Claus hat.
Miller peer facilitator Carol Baird, another of Santa's helpers, introduces community gift recipients as seventh-grade Falcons wait to present their stacks of presents.
Seventh-grader Jazmine Guardado explains to the audience how the collection for Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos (House of Hope for Children) was organized; Cheryl West (left), representing the charity group, shows her joy over the gift, a joint effort of four homerooms.
