Summerset apartment residents get gifts from Fresno High students

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- After suffering weeks without heat because of several broken gas lines the families who live at the Summerset Village Apartments in Fresno are finally staying warm this winter.

What they endured did not go unnoticed. Fourteen Fresno High School students loaded up a car full of hundreds of presents. The gifts were purchased after they raised nearly $900 in just two days. "It's happening in our community and every kid should have a normal Christmas," student Angel Magana said. "And that's what we're doing so they can have a normal Christmas like every kid out there."

The students a video to show it's potential donors the children who live at Summerset Village Apartments. Last month families there were left without gas for cooking or heat for several weeks. Students and staff at Fresno High realized even just a few dollars could go a long way.

"We're going to have a fun day with them make them think that someone cares out there for them and that's who we are at Fresno Warriors," Magana said.

The Summerset apartments are close by to Fresno High School, so for students there this story hit close to home. After a brief introduction of what was going on the kids got to dig into the gifts. "The smile on the kids faces when we showed up with their gifts," student Ashley Garza said smiling. "And just to see their reaction to them."

The children didn't just get some toys, they also got a pair of gloves and socks. And there were some bigger items meant to share between everyone. "We wanted stuff that would just build community and interact and maybe allow the adults we got volleyball courts and badminton and tether ball and board games and bracelet making stuff where everybody could work together, teacher Jeannine Der Manouel said.

For Maichai Yang, who lives at the complex, the act of kindness meant everything "this is like an early Christmas present," Yang said. "So, I really appreciate it, and I really enjoyed and it's just something for the kids to enjoy with everything that's going on out here."