PARMA, Ohio — From Star Wars toys to race cars, headphones to Barbie dolls, Lisa Nuti has made it her mission to make sure every child at Summit Academy in Parma has a present to open for the holidays.
Many of the students at the K-12 school have special needs, and according to Nuti, there are also a lot of kids who live below the poverty line.
“When it comes to Christmas time, some of them don’t get any gifts at all,” Nuti said.
Nuti volunteers at the school, where one of her sons is a student, and is also head of the PTO.
All year long, she buys inexpensive toys and gifts, finding items on clearance or seeking donations. This year, the kids were supposed to come pick out presents for themselves and their family members on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the week before Christmas.
The kids, Nuti said, love the tradition.
“They just light up. Some of them spend an hour in there, trying to pick out that exact thing” for themselves or their families, Nuti said. “And we’re not talking about gold bars, we’re talking about hand-me-down turtle stuffed animals. They just get so excited about picking out that perfect present.”
On Monday night, Nuti said she went to several stores to buy toys for the kids, as many of the donations received this year had been presents for parents. She bought just shy of $500 worth of toys, according to a police report, which Nuti said sat inside her SUV in ten reusable grocery bags.
Nuti came out to her vehicle Tuesday morning in Old Brooklyn and discovered someone had broken the rear driver's side window and taken all the toys, leaving only dog treats behind.
“We opened it up and saw the glass and my son said, ‘Mom, the window’s broke,’ and I turn around and I look and everything was gone,” Nuti said.
Nuti said she started crying when she realized the toys had been stolen.
“I do this because of the kids. I don’t do it for any other reason,” Nuti said. “A lot of these kids don’t have anything. My kids are blessed. I don’t worry about my own. It’s the other kids that I worry about.”
Broken glass still sat in her car during the day Tuesday, as Nuti reflected on what had happened.
“One hundred and eighty kids that deserve the world, and they’re always at the end. They’re always at the end of the list,” Nuti said.
Nuti is determined to make something positive come from a bad situation.
“Maybe the community will reach out and make sure that all our kids have presents,” Nuti said.
She said she tries to see the good in everyone and tries to do good as well.
“We believe in giving people a hand up, not a hand out, and that’s what this is to me,” Nuti said. “This is a hand up for these kids.”
She added, “I hope that people remember the kindness and the goodness in the holiday season and that little programs like this mean a lot to kids. And a little negative, we’ll overcome, but it is sad that stuff like this still happens.”
Anyone interested in helping can drop of donations at Parma Fire Department, Station 3, 6655 Ridge Road.
