On the same day as SADD’s “Christmas Cheer” event, LEO club held its third annual “Magical Night With Santa” event for the community. Magical Night welcomed over 115 cars and 250 children this year. 

During the week leading up to Magical Night, LEO club also held a toy drive in school to benefit the local Salvation Army. 758 gifts were donated by homerooms in school, and over 1,000 were donated by the end of Magical Night, since each participant was required to bring a gift donation for entry. 

The homerooms of Mr. Price, Ms. Gladysiewski, and Mrs. McCauley were the top donors for the toy drive. Each of their classes will receive a celebration sponsored by LEO club to reward their generosity. 

“I love watching the LEOs work together and [seeing] firsthand what their actions can accomplish,” said Mrs. Burkett in her thank-you address to the Magical Night participants.

The event was created in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow local children the opportunity to celebrate Christmas without coming into close contact with others. Then-LEO president Rachel Stockdill oversaw the first and second Magical Night events. Rachel attended Magical Night this year as a guest. 

Current LEO president Kate Stiller continued the Magical Night legacy. Many things were left unchanged from the previous year’s due to the event’s remarkable success, but Kate did make several additions. 

Fourteen stations were set up at Magical Night for the cars to visit. Each station was themed after Christmas songs, and Kate created a curated playlist for cars to listen to when they arrived at each station, corresponding with that station’s theme. 

LEO President Kate Stiller said that “There’s a lot of work that goes into the event to make it what it is. This year, we added two additional stations to try to make the event more special and I think that it turned out great. I’m so grateful to be a part of an event that makes such a great impact on the community in more ways than one.”