Christmas came a few days early for scores of St. Croix kids on Saturday morning when staff and volunteers from the V.I. Gun Violence Prevention Office (OGVP) visited housing communities across the island to hand out free gifts and snacks.
In lieu of reindeer and a sleigh, the toys were delivered via white panel van and pickup truck. After pulling into parking lots at the St. Croix Mutual Homes, Lorraine Village, Croixville, Paradise Mills, Aureo Diaz Heights and Profit Hills housing communities, Damian Lang — a violence interrupter at OGVP — called on residents to “send your children out!”
“We got toys,” he said through a speaker system.
OGVP Executive Director Tony Emanuel said the toys were donated by the Office of the Governor, Cost-U-Less, Super Dollar and other businesses. The OGVP operates under the V.I. Governor’s Office, and Saturday’s toy giveaway came on the heels of the Governor’s Children’s Christmas parties. Emanuel said many of the toys came from those events.
“He reserved some of the stuff for this event because he knew some of the kids that are from here couldn’t actually get into town,” he said, expressing gratitude to Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.
Lang also praised Super Dollar for matching the office’s purchases, which included remote control cars, Bluetooth headphones and drones.
“We had some nice stuff,” he said. “I mean, I know the kids going to be happy — that I can guarantee.”
The group also handed out a few cellphones donated by telecommunication company Viya. Lang said he worked with the residents of the communities they visited to identify particularly deserving kids “because they know the moms, they know the grandmas, you know.”
“So I let them single out a child that they know, like, he wants a phone for Christmas, but he’s not gonna get a phone for Christmas because his mom can’t really afford it,” he said, calling it a pleasure to be able to give that kind of gift.
“That’s gonna impact him somewhere in life, you know,” he said. “And I hope he can grow with it and remember, hey, somebody cared about me … and one day, he might save 20 lives. You know, that’s what we hope for.”
Emanuel said the giveaway is about reaching communities that have historically struggled or been impacted by gun violence and showing them that their government, the Gun Violence Prevention Office and partnering nonprofits care.
“It gives them a certain amount of pride in saying that they’re involved in the holidays, and we do care about them and want them to feel a part of it,” he said.
Beyond delivering gifts to children, Lang highlighted the importance of getting young men from the communities involved. Enlisting them to help distribute toys, he said, gives the younger kids positive role models — an important step in curbing gun violence.
“It starts with our children. If we could instill in our children more love and less hate — more love, less negative thoughts, you know, like not them feeling that nobody cares — let them feel that somebody cares, and it might change their mind,” he said.
Kids on St. Thomas will have an opportunity to score free gifts of their own at the Christmas Children’s Parade. The parade starts at 11 a.m. at the Omar Brown Sr. Fire Station and ends at the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum.
