Post Office Santa Helps Boy Give Mother Mobility

Of all the letters addressed to Santa Claus that postal clerk Denecia Reusche read that day, only 10-year-old John Wonggoun’s asked nothing for himself.

“It really got to me,” said Reusche, 40, who volunteers to help answer the 1,000 “Dear Santa” letters mailed each holiday season through the U.S. Postal Service in Palm Springs. “It’s what Christmas is all about.”

The letter said: “Dear Santa, the only gift I would like is an electric wheelchair for my mom. She can’t walk and her hands are too weak for the one welfare gave her two years ago. I would love to see her outside without help and watch me play. Can you help me with my wish? Love, John F. Wonggoun.”

Reusche decided then and there to see what she could do for the boy and his mother, Victoria Coslett, 39, of Banning, both of whom, she later learned, suffered permanent disabilities from an automobile crash in 1981.

“I was struck by the selflessness of his love,” said Reusche, who opened the letter two weeks ago. “I cried--then I started making calls.”

‘We Can Help You Out on This.’

The first place she called was a wheelchair distributor in Redlands called All Active Mobility. “I read the letter to them,” Reusche said. “They said, ‘We can help you out on this.’ ”

Jody Miranda, general manager of All Active Mobility, contacted wheelchair manufacturer Fortress Scientific Co. of Buffalo, N.Y.

“They gave us a wheelchair and airfreighted it out to me on Thursday. They even put a red bow on it,” Miranda said. “They are Santa’s helpers, no doubt about it.”

On Friday, John got his wish when the $3,000 electric wheelchair was delivered to the door of the small apartment he shares with his mother before a dozen reporters and well-wishers.

“This is best Christmas I’ve ever had,” said a sobbing Coslett, who suffers from ruptured spinal discs and had to be helped into the new gray and white three-wheeler for a test drive in a nearby parking lot. “I don’t have to be stuck in the house anymore.”

‘You’re a Doll. I Love You.’

A few minutes later, she parked the vehicle beside her son and gave him a hug. “You’re a doll,” she said. “I love you.”

“A lot of kids in school said that there was no such thing as Santa Claus,” John said. “But now I do believe there is a Santa Claus.”

“Here’s a kid who went the extra mile for his mother and asked for nothing for himself,” said Fortress Scientific representative Nick Peters, who presented the gift to Coslett. “We felt this was something that had to be done. Sometimes dollars and cents are not the bottom line.”

He added, however, that although publicity for the firm “was never a consideration . . . if we get some publicity out of this, fine.”

Also on hand for the presentation Friday was Reusche, who gave Coslett a check for $375 in donations from postal workers that would be used to cover the cost of maintaining the machine, which has a top speed of 5 1/2 m.p.h.

Separately, dozens of postal workers from Palm Springs and Banning have chipped in to establish a trust fund for John to continue his education beyond the age of 18, Reusche said. Until he reaches that age, John, who suffers from seizures and memory lapses, will receive county assistance to attend a special school for the learning disabled in nearby Beaumont.

Food and Gifts Donated

The postal workers have also donated food and gifts including a microscope, toy jet planes and electronic games. John arranged them beneath an artificial tree in his living room that he had already adorned with “gifts” of his own.

“We found out John had taken empty boxes and wrapped them in Christmas paper so it looked like they were getting gifts for Christmas,” said Mike Fogerty, manager of mail processing at the U.S. Postal Service office in Palm Springs.

“We gave them food because their cupboards aren’t exactly overflowing,” Reusche added. “The boy packed some of that food in a box, wrapped it up and gave it to a neighbor down the hall.”

“It makes me happy to give things to people who need them,” John explained. “My mom said you should always do that because it could be an angel testing you.”