ALAMOSA — Everyone was invited to the annual community Christmas Party at La Puente in Alamosa on Dec. 21. The holiday season is upon us, which was shown by the peace, goodwill, and community love at the well-attended party.  

La Puente provides a myriad of social services, including a shelter in Alamosa, street outreach, the PALS Children Program, the Food Bank Network, VEGI Garden, the Adelante Family Resource Center, and social enterprises like the Milagros Coffee House and the Rainbow Thrift Store. 

To celebrate the holiday season, La Puente hosted a celebration where young and old could visit Santa Claus, enjoy hot chocolate and cookies, and feast on a lasagna lunch with neighbors, coworkers, classmates, friends, and family. Every attendee was able to take home a gift from this community event. 

Lance Cheslock, Executive Director of La Puente, estimated that about 450 people from across the San Luis Valley attended. 

"We've been doing this Christmas Outreach Party for about 30 years. This is a community event and is not just for the have-nots. Santa Equity says that everyone who comes should get something, and the community has supported this for all those years. 

"Some of the hallmarks of this La Puente tradition is that Santa is someone who is currently staying at the shelter, and this year, he is a great young man. He is currently looking for a job, and being Santa has given him a boost in this drive to find work. 

"Volunteers have come out of the woodwork to help us in every aspect of this celebration, we've had wrapping parties to wrap all of the gifts, cooks in the kitchen, our musicians are all volunteers. We had a tuba quartet, McKenzie Torres on piano, Laura Fierce was singing, and my wife Rachael performed, and yesterday we had a fellow named Chuck who just showed up and is staying with us and wanted to play the harmonica.  

"We want to be more than just a social services organization. We feel there is a culture of compassion, a culture of doing something extraordinary that people aren't expecting to brighten their lives. This is by far my favorite thing we do at La Puente. 

"For me, this is also about thanking the community for supporting us in events like these. We have so many beautiful stories, like the family whose house just burned down and are with us,” Cheslock said. 

The party was a huge success as shown by the bright smiles of all the children who spent time with Santa and received a Christmas gift.