For six years, Gainesville lawyer Carl Schwait has donned his Santa suit to deliver holiday gifts to children attending schools in some of the poorest areas in the Eighth Circuit.

While Schwait sees the smiles and gets the hugs when distributing the gifts, it is only through the generosity of the 1,100 lawyers and their staffs in the sprawling six-county circuit that makes it all possible.

In 2003, in honor of a former Florida Bar president’s challenge to serve the children of the state, Schwait, then president of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar, asked his board to take part in a yearly community outreach program with an emphasis on children. Little did he know that his initial modest pledge to find enough donations to fill 10 stockings for disadvantaged kids would turn into an annual event that now routinely serves hundreds of children.

This year, donations from the local legal community enabled the EJCBA to provide gifts to more than 400 students at Marjorie K. Rawlings Elementary School, which draws students from a predominately low-income community.

“I thought lawyers should play a larger role, especially in some of our smaller communities, and the board of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association went along with me,” said Schwait, now a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors, adding that for many of the children served, these are the only gifts they receive during Christmas and that many of the kids only ask for necessities like socks, shoes, and school supplies.

“I’ve probably not done anything where my emotions were so overwhelmed when I was performing a task,” Schwait said of calling up each student by name to give them an armload of presents.

This year’s students included 12 who were either physically or mentally challenged.

“You realize the blessing we have being lawyers,” Schwait said. “The blessings we have to be in a profession where, along with the deeds we do, we also get paid well. Then you go into a school and are told this is their only gift they will get or in the bag is a pair of shoes because they need shoes.”

Schwait said considering the small number of lawyers in the Eighth Circuit – which includes Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, and Union counties – it’s amazing they routinely raise $15,000 to $20,000 each year for the project.

“We are one of the poorest circuits and many of the 1,100 are government lawyers,” Schwait said, adding that he hopes other bars across the state consider establishing similar programs.