Christmas came a little early for a group of students at Slatington Elementary School.

On Friday, members from Aramark Healthcare joined faculty members at the school to distribute gifts to all third grade students.

Each third grader was presented with a toy, according to school Principal Todd Breiner.

Breiner said he was contacted last month by Juan De Jesus, general manager with Aramark Healthcare.

“De Jesus is a resident of the school district, and wanted to do something for the children at Slatington Elementary School for the holidays,” Breiner said. “He took it upon himself to reach out to others within his company to discuss a holiday toy drive for the third grade students at Slatington Elementary School.”

Breiner said that once De Jesus had support from his colleagues, he reached out to Breiner and proposed a toy drive event where members of his company would collect toys for every third grade student at the school to “help make this a holiday season, one that our students would remember.”

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Breiner accepted the offer and began planning the event with De Jesus and Ingrid Duran, paraprofessional at Slatington Elementary School, who is the wife of De Jesus.

“While this event was designed only for third grade this year, we look to continue this event and possibly grow it in the future to other grade levels at the school or other community outreach events,” he said. “On behalf of the entire third grade team, administration, and faculty, we would like to thank Mr. DeJesus, Aramark Healthcare, and Mrs. Duran for bringing this event to our students and supporting them with holiday cheer.”