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By BARTON PERKINS | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Residents looking to support Pelham Oaks Elementary can head down to Half-Shell Oyster House on Saturday, Dec. 2 from 8 to 10 a.m. for their second ever Breakfast with Santa.

“Basically Half-Shell provides all of the food,” said Jessica Crossfield of the Pelham Oaks Parent Teacher Organization. “The money generated by the tickets goes 100 percent to the school and to our PTO funds.”

PTO Board members and volunteers from Pelham High School will be volunteering at the event to help serve food and man the event. 

“We’re in charge of serving the pancakes, bacon, sausage and drinks,” Crossfield said. “Last year, we learned that we mamas, as much as we are full of energy and willing to serve for two hours straight, that it was a bit much. So this year, we reached out to local high schoolers for volunteers.”

Crossfield noted that the Breakfast with Santa provides many of the high school students who are volunteering with the volunteer hours they need and that she expects that they will be a big help at the event.

Along with the chance to eat breakfast at Half-Shell Oyster House, participants will have the chance to have their picture taken with Santa Claus. 

“It’s a take-your-own picture,” Crossfield said. “The ticket includes breakfast and the photo.”

Last year Breakfast with Santa raised roughly $3,000 and had around 300 attendees. The funds generated were used in a variety of projects at Pelham Oaks including the construction of a new deck at the school’s playground.

“The old deck had been around since the school was initially built, back when it was Valley Intermediate,” Crossfield said. “The wood was old and needed to be replaced.”

This year, Pelham Oak’s PTO plans to use the funds generated from Breakfast with Santa to pursue a number of other projects to benefit the school and its faculty.

“We’re looking at some additional things for the school like an outdoor classroom,” Crossfield said. “There’s also a new thing that teachers and staff are doing which is invoking the Ron Clark Academy house model at the school. So sending the teachers to the Ron Clark Academy for some of the presentation days that they do is another thing we’re looking at.”

Tickets to the Breakfast with Santa are officially on sale now and cost $10. Anyone wanting to help support Pelham Oaks Elementary and its PTO are welcome to attend.