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SALT LAKE CITY -- Santa made an early delivery Tuesday to the Botello family in Salt Lake City. The Jolly Old Elf came in the form of Gloria Boberg and her staff at The Ark of Little Cottonwood.
"It's a way of giving back," Bober said.
Ark is an addiction and mental health treatment center in Salt Lake. Gloria makes sure every year, around September, the organization starts gathering things for underprivileged children.
"When I was young, fourth grade, we were poor," Gloria said. "I grew up in this neighborhood. We had nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. There was a can of milk in the fridge."
That year, Gloria thought she would get nothing for Christmas, but a family did a Sub for Santa for her family and she got gifts. Now every year for at least a decade, she's returned the favor.
"It's what we are supposed to do; and I promised myself way back then that's what I would do. We've done as many as 400 kids in a year," Gloria said.
This year, the Botello-Gonzales kids are among the ones receiving the gifts. Christmas is an especially hard time of year, because they don't have their dad. He was murdered three years ago, and Margarita Gonzales is raising the three kids alone, without a job.
Margarita says Christmas would have been very different without the donations of Ark. A translator told us Margarita was feeling very overwhelmed because she didn't think she would receive all these gifts for her children.
Thanks to Ark, and Gloria, this is the most presents they've ever had to put under the tree.
Ark delivered presents to three other houses in need on Monday as well. This year, the organization made sure 152 children received a Christmas, who otherwise wouldn't have.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
