Houstonian Plays Santa to 100+ ESL Students

Christmas Time!  A special time for people across the globe.  From Thanksgiving to the end of the year we tend to celebrate with friends and family and extend our gratitude and blessings to those we know and some we don’t. 

But for Linda Benning, extending her gifts, gratitude and blessings is something she does all year round culminating in a massive endeavor at Christmastime when she plays Santa Clause to her ESL students and their families.

After retiring from teaching in 2011, Linda began volunteering with Catholic Charities which connected her with a community of Burmese families. Linda says she has been teaching English to refugees since then.

So, how did we come to meet Linda?

In June of 2022 Linda became a member of Evolution Fitness & Wellness after her friend Sarah, shared her own experiences.  

Early on Linda told me that as a single woman with no immediate family, it was important to her to stay strong and functional as she aged. She shared that her "work" kept her busy and required that she be able to climb stairs, carry items, and be "fit".

Naturally as EFW members got to know Linda, we learned of her passion project and discovered that she was single handedly providing Christmas gifts to over 100 children.  Shopping, wrapping or bagging, and delivering Christmas gifts to entire families of children that she has touched via her ESL lessons.  And paying for it all out of her own pocket!  

Our members couldn’t believe it and so they went to work.   What first started as a few of her session mates buying gifts and donating them to Linda’s kids in 2022 has blossomed to more of the EFW membership helping in 2023 and again this year.    

EFW Director of Fun, Karen F., turned into one of Linda’s elves, working with Linda to organize the kids by family onto index cards which were then handed out to willing EFW elves. Since then gift bags have been pouring in.

Today, we helped Linda carry bags to her car until her car was jammed full leaving several bags behind until her next session mid-week.   But before Linda had a chance to leave, I asked her if she had all her kiddos covered to which she replied, “Heavens no!  I still have more to go.  It's actually overwhelming this time of year because I do birthdays for them too! And, there are lots of December birthdays in addition to Christmas.”.   Then with a smile on her face and gratitude in her heart for the support she departed for home to unload her gifts so she could head back out to shop and check more kiddos off her list.  

I am truly touched by Linda’s life mission of helping these families.   I’m also deeply moved by the generosity of our EFW members in supporting Linda and her kids at Christmas.   

If you are interested in supporting Linda and her families, please reach out to us.  There are still kids in need and still time to help.   

Happy Holidays, 

Coach Jackie