SAN ANTONIO – Child Protective Services caseworkers on Monday went on a special shopping trip in a treasure trove of free toys and gifts in memory of a woman who made it her mission to make sure abused and neglected children in the San Antonio area felt loved during the holidays.
Since 1989, real estate agent Zenobia Coverson was a fairy godmother for children in the foster care system that she called “the forgotten children.”
Throughout the year, Coverson would fill about 700 gift baskets and wrapped gifts for distribution to children in the CPS foster care program.
All that came to an abrupt end in March when Coverson died in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic’s first months.
Coverson’s passion of filling Easter baskets was abandoned as her family mourned her loss.
But the Coverson family on Monday granted caseworkers a chance to empty out the storage building in Schertz, where all the gifts have been waiting to be wrapped for a child in need of special attention.
CPS caseworker Mary Lou Rodriguez was there as the doors to The Forgotten Child storage unit were opened. Rodriguez was able to pick out gifts for children under her guidance.
“She has been helping us for at least 25 years or longer, going back to school, Easter, and she always did Christmas,” Rodriguez said.
Coverson’s legacy is something CPS in Region 8 has been depending on annually.
“She just couldn’t stand to think that a child would not have something for either of the holidays,” Rodriguez said.
CPS Community Initiatives Specialist Kim Hill said this year is particularly hard on all kids, and so has securing donations for them.
“2020 with COVID, it was really unknown the amount of toys that we would be able to get for our kiddos, so this came at just an amazing time,” Hill said.
Eleanor Salazar, a CPS caseworker, said foster children generally don’t have high expectations for the holidays.
“A lot of the kids don’t really expect too much, if anything, so they’re going to be really excited. We try to pick toys that reflect their individuality,” Salazar said.
Even though the storage unit contains hundreds of gifts, CPS could still use more of them since the state agency tries to make sure that all children are remembered during the holiday and because the caseloads are higher than ever due to the pandemic.
CPS is looking for brand new gifts for children ages infant to older teenagers.
Toy and gift donations are accepted onsite at CPS headquarters at 3635 Southeast Military Drive.
The toys will be distributed the week of Dec.14.