The year my son was 6, he had one thing on his Christmas list. One thing only. The Millennium Falcon.
Remember Han Solo's space ship in the movie "Star Wars?" That's all my son wanted. He asked us about it every day. Did we think Santa Claus would bring him one? Were we sure Santa had gotten his letter?
One thing really worried him. How would Santa know where to find us? We'd moved that fall. That Christmas was our first in our new home. How would Santa know where we were? Suppose Santa left our presents at the old house? No matter how much we reassured him, he didn't relax until he came down the stairs Christmas morning and found his Millennium Falcon under our tree.
He's coming home from college tomorrow. Coming home for Christmas. Coming home to the same home he's lived in ever since he was that little boy in blue pajamas who zoomed around our living room at light speed.
My children and yours have always had a home. But there are hundreds of children in this city who will wake up this Christmas morning in homeless shelters.
Antioch. Bethany Project. Phoenix Place. Midtown Churches. The Salvation Army Booth House. The YWCA Eleanor D. Corner House. South Baltimore Night Shelter. My Sister's Place.
None of those facilities has adequate space or staff for children to play during the day. So these kids must follow their mothers around the city.
Sitting on buses. Sitting in hospital waiting rooms. Sitting on the floor while their mothers wait in line at the social-services agency. Be quiet. Sit still. Don't run. Don't bother anybody. Don't cry.
A few are lucky, though. A few get a chance to play with other kids every day. To shout. To draw with crayons. To sit on someone's lap. Have someone read them a book. Eat a good lunch. Take a nap. A few of them actually get a chance to be children.
A lucky few go to The Ark.
The Ark Daycare Center is Baltimore's only licensed day-care facility dedicated exclusively to homeless children. It's operated by the Episcopal Social Ministries with support services from partners at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the YWCA, PACT: Helping Children with Special Needs, Families in Transition and the Coalition for Homeless Families and Children.
The Ark is located in the basement of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection at 2900 East Fayette Street, a few blocks north of Patterson Park. The warm and brightly painted room looks like a normal kindergarten. There, for no charge, the Ark's trained staff provides about 100 homeless children a year with %o early-childhood education, on-site health screenings, mental-health evaluations, a warm meal, a mattress on which to take an afternoon nap and free transportation back and forth to their parents' current shelters.
The children are up to 5 years old. Typically, they stay in the program for only six to eight weeks. But even in that short time, many of them make dramatic progress in language, motor and social skills.
Santa will stop by the Ark this week. The children will sit on his lap. But the staff has found it's better if he doesn't ask them what they want for Christmas. These kids probably won't get what they want, and it's best not to raise their hopes.
They'll each get a few presents, though. The Ark has received hundreds of donated gifts for these children. The staff sets them all out in another room and invites the parents to come and "shop." Each parent picks a few presents to wrap and give to his or her child on Christmas morning.
The Ark's $120,000 annual budget is funded by contributions from foundations, corporations, charities, families and individuals. Major recent funding has come from Associated Black Charities, USF&G; and two anonymous local foundations. But the center's public funding has ended, and The Ark needs help.
The Ark has its own Christmas list for Santa. The center must feed these children every day, and for health reasons everything must be disposable.
So it needs a year's supply of paper cups ($500), paper plates ($125), soup bowls ($200), plastic spoons ($143), plastic forks ($78), plastic knives ($26), paper napkins ($150) and plastic gloves for food handling ($100).
It needs soap ($200), toilet paper ($90), paper towels ($100), large trash bags ($78), small trash bags ($42), disinfectant ($286), tissue paper ($216), disposable diapers ($250) and plastic gloves with which to change them ($420).
It needs clothing for boys and girls: underwear (sizes 2-8), briefs, undershirts, T-shirts, socks, pajamas, jackets, winter parkas, shoes and boots.
It needs Polaroid 600 film packs ($25 each) to give each child a scrapbook of personal pictures, so that the children all take away something to remind them of the happy weeks they spent in The Ark's classroom.
The center also needs two major items. Baltimore's summers are hot. The classroom has no air conditioning. A system would cost $6,000 and must be installed. And the center doesn't have a fax machine ($450) with which to communicate with shelters, hospitals and agencies.
Finally, the Ark needs volunteers. Especially adult African-American males. Do you have a couple of hours a week you want to give? To volunteer, call the Ark's executive director Pat Gallagher at 410-342-6670.
The Ark Daycare Center for Homeless Children is only one of many wonderful institutions and charitable organizations helping unfortunate children this Christmas. They are all underfunded. They all need help. They have all sent Santa their wish lists.
Pick one of them and play Santa Claus this Christmas. If you pick The Ark, send your tax-deductible check to The Ark Daycare Center, c/o Episcopal Social Ministries, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore, Maryland 21218.
And may you and your children have a Happy Holiday. In your happy home.
?3 Tim Baker is a lawyer who writes from Columbia.