FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A second-grade class in Springdale was surprised with new winter gloves after a teacher's letter to Santa was left at a local bar.
Sandra Lynn Chacon, a second-grade teacher at Bayyari Elementary School, was with family at Pinpoint, a bar in Fayetteville, when she wrote a letter to Santa for her students.
"We saw the Santa mailbox and premade Santa letters. At first, I thought it was just part of their decoration, but curiosity got the best of me, and I looked inside the mailbox and found it was full of letters. My cousin and I decided to fill one out," Chacon said.
Chacon told 5NEWS that, while she didn't even know if the letter would be read, she thought it was worth a shot.
"I thought, 'If Santa was real, and I could ask for anything, what would I ask for?' I landed on the idea of gloves and mittens for my students since we had just read the book 'The Mitten' by Jan Brett. I wanted to give the students the book and a pair of gloves or mittens for Christmas," Chacon said.
Pinpoint, famous for its holiday-themed decorations, was trying something new this year with their iconic "Santa's mailbox" decoration.
"Every year we have a decoration out that is a giant light up mailbox that says 'Letters to Santa.' This year we actually put out some stationary for people to write letters and leave them in the mailbox," Bo Counts, Pinpoint's owner, said.
"We thought it would be a fun activity for people to write secret messages and notes and maybe we'd get some pretty interesting and fun things that we could share on social media."
However, Counts said the response to what seemed like a fun idea was disappointing.
"Unfortunately, almost 90% of what people put in there is pretty filthy and nothing that I could repeat in good conscience. It was a little disheartening, to say the least, that something that should be so wholesome just immediately turns into talk of drugs and sex and whatnot. Many of them barely have more than one word on them," Counts said.
While the response to the mailbox was disappointing, Counts said one letter inspired a random act of kindness; it was Chacon's.
"One day we were emptying out the mailbox and came across the letter from Sandra. It was so heartfelt and genuine that I absolutely had to do something," Counts said.
He said while the bar can't afford to fulfill everyone's Christmas wishes, this was the perfect chance to spread some Christmas magic.
"We are 'the Christmas bar' after all, and bringing a little holiday magic outside of our bar just seemed like a no-brainer. So, we decided to write a letter back to her saying that Santa got the letter and decided to bring some gifts early," Counts explained.
Chacon and her class were surprised with the gifts days before students left for winter break. Pinpoint donated enough gloves for each student along with a candy cane and a handwritten note encouraging students to read, have fun, and be kind.
Chacon said the gift makes a huge difference for her students.
"I work for a Title 1 school where more than 90% of the families we serve live below the poverty line. During these cold months, we look for donors who can donate warm clothes, jackets, gloves, and sometimes even shoes for our students," Chacon said. "I knew asking for books or jackets would be a long shot, but I thought if someone really did read my letter, gloves would be the perfect gift."
Chacon said the students loved their early Christmas gifts, commenting that they already insist on wearing them to recess.
"My students are overjoyed with their gloves. They are 7 and 8 years old. Some are on the fence about whether or not Santa is real, and this act of kindness was a tipping point for them. We are a class of believers after this," Chacon said.
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