Santa Claus brings smiles, candy canes to Lake Otis Elementary School students

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The kids are still stuck at home, but as schools get ready for the official beginning of winter break, Lake Otis Elementary wanted to bring in someone with holiday experience to brighten up the faces of its students. Fortunately, Derrick Kobosh, who works in tech support for the Anchorage School District, has a good relationship with the bearded guy in the big red suit.

On Wednesday, Santa Claus was out in front of Lake Otis Elementary School handing out candy canes and presents to students in an effort to bring a little holiday cheer to this unusual and difficult year.

“So we have over 300 students here at our school. As you can see every grade level has an opportunity,” School librarian Misty Nelson said. “Some people have food bags, some people have Chromebooks, some people have winter gear, games, puzzles, so we just tried to spread out the wealth as much as we could.”

While the staff did their best to play the role of workshop elves, organizing presents and keeping this drive-thru holiday visit moving, Santa Claus was standing in the snow greeting each car that pulled up.

“You know today, probably more than any other year, it means a lot. A lot of kids right now don’t have a lot of things going on so Santa coming out to bring a smile, little candy cane, little wave, it means a lot,” Santa said.

Originally this event was scheduled to be a library book return but Kobosh approached Nelson with this more festive idea.

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