BRISTOL, Tenn. – Gathered at a table in front of a Bristol Motor Speedway hospitality tent, the Odum girls – Inna, age 8, Brianna, 7, and April, 4 – seemed barely able to contain their excitement as they waited to have their faces painted.
“I think they’re going to sleep well tonight,” said their mother, Sonja Odum, of Bristol, Tenn. “This is a really exciting day for them.”
Suddenly, daughter Brianna broke from her siblings to stand in front of her mother, and offer her own unique description of the moment.
“This is so awesome,” Brianna said.
That sure seemed to be a feeling shared by more than 150 other area children and their families, who received tickets for Saturday’s races through Santa Pal Inc., a Bristol nonprofit group that helps disadvantaged youths.
While 162 tickets for the race day were donated to eligible kids and family members, 100 of the group also took part in a pre-race luncheon inside a Speedway hospitality tent – which featured a feast of hot dogs, baked beans, chili, chips, cookies and drinks and an appearance by a very jolly Santa Claus.
“Santa said this was like having a Merry Christmas in March, and that’s really true,” said a beaming Bob Gose, president of Santa Pal.
“This is such a marvelous statement about the generosity of the speedway and the people of Bristol as a whole,” Gose said. “This really is such a loving and giving community.”
Most of the attending children – chosen through referrals and a rigorous eligibility process – were students in the two Bristol school districts, as well as selected areas throughout Sullivan County, Gose said.
During the annual holiday season, Santa Pal works in tandem with United Way to provide donated toys and gifts to 400 to 500 children a year, so they can also fully enjoy the celebrations.
Gose said that same idea was at work in acquiring the donated tickets to the spring race weekend, which ranks among Bristol’s biggest events each year.
“It means a lot for these kids to be able to be here at the speedway,” Gose said. “We want them to have the chance to enjoy the same experiences as everyone else.”
As they watch the sea of smiling young faces around them, Santa Pal board members Lavonda Pairgin and Tammy Henkel – among the six group members serving food and painting faces during the luncheon – both beamed.
“It’s just wonderful to see kids and their families do something fun together, and something that they’d probably never get to do otherwise,” Pairgin said, while complimenting Henkel on her deft face-painting work.
“When you see how excited they are, you can’t help but feel good along with them,” Henkel said of the children.
Good feelings were definitely in large supply among Ramona Browning, her husband, Randy, and their children Garland, 2, Helen, 6, and Angel, 10: the Bluff City family shared plenty of smiles as Helen and Angel chatted and laughed with Santa.
“They’ve been looking forward to this all week,” Ramona Browning said of her children. “It means a lot as a family to do something like this. It’s going to be a great memory.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512.
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