On December 12th,  “National Gingerbread House Day,” the WCS School held an Gingerbread Open House – a school-made art installation of gingerbread houses for the whole agency to view. Pam Giannelli (Vice Principal) and the Student Council planned this fun activity for the whole school take part in.  Lisa Kuhn (Director of Food Services) acquired the Gingerbread houses from our partner Thurston Foods who provides much of the food to the WCS campus. There was just one problem, the gingerbread did not come in kits. Pam and Kelly Walker (Assistant Program Director) bought a variety of candy choices. Together with their student council volunteers, a kit was packaged up with the gingerbread and candy choices for each student. In every classroom. That’s 73 Gingerbread House kits! Then they spent a morning invading the WCS kitchen to make up enough frosting for the Gingerbread House construction. Our kitchen staff lent their giant kitchen aid mixers and tons of confectionary sugar and hilarity ensued…56 POUNDS of frosting were mixed for this project. If only there were photos of the great frosting caper of 2023!

After packaging up the gingerbread house kits they were sent to the classrooms and construction began. The students worked on crafting their own unique gingerbread house. Some were personal dream houses, some were funny, all were adorably decorated with sugary style. The kids were very excited on the afternoon of December 12th to show off their creations. All of the houses were displayed on tables in  the Otto Graham Gymnasium training room, the biggest conference room we have. Sharon Butcher (School Principal) and Kelly Walker brought in home made cookies and apple cider for the visitors to much on while they viewed the display of colorful houses. All WCS staff were invited to come view the temporary art installation for themselves. Each house had the student’s name and grade next to it on a little place card. Enjoy some photos of the house display here: 

The houses were carefully wrapped and packaged so each of the children could take them home after the Open House. Pam says the endeavor was a success and certainly a lot of fun. They will plan things a little differently next year for ease of assembly and less chances for breaking someone’s creation in transit. What a wonderful fun event for the School this year. 

Meanwhile on the farm….Vocational/Farm Teacher, Michele Labbadia, worked with the students on assembling fresh wreaths for the holiday season. The school put out an order form for WCS Staff and Board members to order their own custom wreath. When the orders started rolling in, they could barely keep up. Michele turned the farm classroom into a craft shop with fresh pine greens, wreath frames and ornaments, hot glue guns and spray glitter. The results were incredible! Thank you Michele and our high school crafters for dressing up the holiday season with your amazing creations. We love the holiday season and all of the creativity it brings to our campus. Although each of our students has their own struggles, this time of generosity from our community and joy-filled activities makes all of our spirits bright. 

Join the group of partners making our children’s special days and holidays Merry & Bright! -> HOLIDAY GIVING