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Rotary club tradition gives gifts for education -- and for smiles
Thursday, December 17, 2009
By Kaitlynn Riely, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bill Wade/Post-Gazette
Michael Giglotti, his brother, Matt, his wife, Paula (second from right), and his mother, Barb, are helped out by volunteers from the Upper St. Clair/Bethel Park Rotary to wrap gifts for children at The Early Learning Institute.

For the Giglotti family, Christmas is not complete without The Early Learning Institute's Christmas party.

Nineteen years ago, Michael Giglotti Sr., a charter member of the Rotary Club of Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park, decided to get other members involved with the organization then known as St. Peters Child Development Center.

The Rotarians started an annual Christmas party with the Institute, then launched activities year-round -- such as an Easter party and golf outings -- to raise funds for the institute's work. Mr. Giglotti's wife, Barbara, and his sons, Michael and Matthew, also became involved and have carried on Mr. Giglotti's work since his death in 2003.

"They are just willing to pitch in wherever needed, and I think that's what makes them really unique," said Kristin Brown, the director of development and marketing for the institute, which provides early intervention and early childhood education programs for about 1,600 children across Allegheny County.

On Monday, Michael Giglotti Jr. held a wrapping party at his house in Bridgeville, inviting Rotary members and their spouses, as well as staff members from the institute, to prepare presents for the Christmas party today at the South Hills center on Hamilton Road.

For more than a decade, Michael Giglotti Sr. dressed up as Santa to hand out the wrapped presents to the children, many of whom have developmental delays or special needs.

"The thing I think that my husband was so enthralled with was seeing these kids happy and seeing them tear into their presents," Mrs. Giglotti said. "Christmas was never Christmas for us until we had our learning party, when we could see the kids happy."

Mrs. Giglotti, who lives in Peters, remembers one Christmas when two young boys could not attend the party because their sister was undergoing treatment for cancer. So her husband, dressed up as Santa Claus, made a visit to their grandparents' house to surprise them and deliver their presents.

Following their father's death, Michael and Matthew have shared the role of Santa Claus.

"It doesn't require a lot of time, but what it does is it makes a lot of children happy," Mrs. Giglotti said.

Kaitlynn Riely can be reached at kriely@post-gazette.com.
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First published on December 17, 2009 at 6:24 am