California high school senior uses own money to buy holiday gift for every student at school
MARSYVILLE – A high school senior and his girlfriend dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus and handed out gifts to every student at their school, Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts.
Jack Magee used his own money to do this. He says he drew inspiration from a Christmas special he grew up watching featuring "Shaun the Sheep." The animated characters demonstrate what the spirit of giving is all about.
Jack felt he could do something similar.
"This community has given so much to me, this school and to see everyone during the holiday season, it's just a nice thing to do," he said.
Jack decided he wanted to do something big for the holidays back in October.
"We were on the call and he just randomly was like, 'I want to do something for Christmas,'" said Jack's girlfriend Brooklyn Waters. "I don't know. I thought it was a little crazy. I don't know how you're going to get it, we have almost 400 students here."
With the help of his girlfriend, the pair dressed up as Santa, passing out roughly 350 wrapped gifts purchased with Jack's own money to each classroom at MCAA.
"Every single student got one," Waters said.
"Well, right now I'm in debt," Jack said, "but I've been trying to save up a lot and have been working every week to make it back."
Jack has been picking up odd jobs, anywhere from mowing lawns to washing cars.
"He wanted to give something to his friends at school and not just his friends but the whole school," said Julie Magee, Jack's mom.
"I thought it was a daunting, overwhelming task. But he pulled it together. He pulled out spreadsheets. I didn't even know he could make a spreadsheet on his phone," said Clark Magee, Jack's dad.
Jack was very adamant about keeping this a secret. He coordinated the day with Anna Mitchell, the school outreach consultant, who also had to keep it a secret for the last two months.
"I kept telling them, 'Oh we have a special guest this year' and at least one kid in every class was like, 'Is it Santa?' And then he walked into the room and all screamed. Huge heart, just so compassionate and sweet. Not super outgoing, so this was way outside his comfort zone, which was really cool," Mitchell said.
"Everyone was just like full of joy, like, 'Santa' and all happy. It was just so great to see everyone overjoyed," Jack said.
They handed out classic gifts like slinkys and yo-yos.