|
CHRISTMAS TRAIN BRINGS HOLIDAY
CHEER
In a scene reminiscent of the
glory days of rail travel, housands of kids in Tecate, Mexico
eagerly await the arrival of the Christmas Train every
January. Laden with toys and gifts donated by Southern
Californian individuals and businesses, the train brings
holiday cheer south of the border to the underprivileged
children in the small border town.
The Christmas Train is
organized by the San Diego Railroad Museum, the Red Cross, the
City of Tecate, the Tecate Brewing Company and local officials
from the Mexican Department of Infants and Families.
This year’s festivities were
on Sunday, January 5. The train departed from the San Diego
Railroad Museum in Campo, California. Adorned with stuffed
animals and ribbons, the vintage diesel locomotive traveled
45-miles south to the Tecate Brewery station where it was
greeted by over 5,000 children and their parents.
The event, which coincides with
the traditional Mexican holiday, the Day of the Three Kings,
has been an annual ritual since 1998. Niel Nathason, assistant
professor of clinical dentistry, became involved when he was
contacted by event organizers in 1999.
“They were concerned they
were giving these kids so much candy and thought it would be a
good idea to include toothbrushes and toothpaste in their gift
bags,” Nathason explains.
He solicits funds from the
dental school community to subsidize the school’s
contribution. Nathason distributes the materials himself,
usually making the trip with his two sons, Jesse and Jayme.
This year he was joined by
colleagues, family and friends from USCSD’s community health
programs. Nathason was accompanied by staff member Casey
Kazlauskas, his wife Claudia and son Robert, as well as fellow
staff member Thanh Lai and girlfriend Staci.
“It was really a nice trip.
When you see the desperate conditions that many of these
children live in, it really makes you feel good to bring a
smile to their face,” said Lai.
Nathason hopes to broaden the
scope of the school’s involvement in the near future. This
year, the wife of the mayor of Tecate, took Nathason on a tour
of the town’s dental clinic. The two discussed the urgent
oral health needs of the children in Tecate and surrounding
areas.
“In the future we hope to
invite more students to participate and possibly to establish
a long-term project with the City of Tecate and their public
health programs,” Nathason says.
|
