A few of Santa’s helpers jingled their way into John Brown Elementary School Thursday afternoon and left some gifts under the Christmas tree.

The elves, from Mountain View Alternative High School, brought snowman and reindeer stockings full of goodies for some of the school’s more needy students.

Jena Hayenga’s Future Career and Community Leaders of America class lead Mountain Vista in a drive to raise gifts for the stockings.

“We all brought in presents and gifts for children who are less fortunate,” said Clara Skinner, one of the elves and a junior at Mountain View Alternative High School. “The whole school came together to do this.”

Students donated school supplies, coloring books, stuffed animals, gloves and candy. One stocking had a base-layer shirt for a student to keep warm and one student even knitted a hat to donate to the project.

Hayenga’s FCCLA class does about three or four community projects each quarter and during the holidays it organizes Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for the class.

For this project, Hayenga said, it was very important for her class to learn how to give, even if you don’t have much.

“Many of our students don’t have very much,” she said. “But no matter one’s circumstances, it’s always good to give. There’s always going to be people with more than you, and there’s always going to be people with less.”

About 12 John Brown students will get a stocking or gift from the project. During the holidays, the school gets many community members who want to donate to a less fortunate family or student.

The school’s counselor, Trisha Claussen, makes sure to distribute gifts and donations to as many students in need as possible.

She said she will look at what’s in each stocking and make sure each goes to a child who would benefit from some of those specific items.

“We get holiday help but since I’ve been here nobody has come to us with stockings,” Claussen said. “We think it’s awesome that the Mountain View students came up with this idea and did it. We know our families will be really excited.”