FIFTY children from child care facilities across the island, who sent off their Christmas wishes to FLOW, could hardly contain their joy when employees of the telecommunications firm ensured that all the children — ages six to 17 — had their wishes granted last Thursday.

All 50 were hosted at a luncheon at the firm’s corporate headquarters on Carlton Crescent in Kingston, and even those who had three wishes were not disappointed by the generous staff at FLOW, who wanted to ensure that they have a wonderful Christmas.

The children, some of whom travelled from as far as Westmoreland to collect their gifts that they had requested weeks in advance, were overwhelmed with joy after they were presented with their gifts and opened the packages.

FLOW staff members, who were honoured to purchase the gifts from their pockets, were themselves overcome with joy as they watched as the faces of the little ones lit up.

“This is awesome. I got the Da Vinci Code and Inferno,” said one teenage girl, referring to the two mystery books she had received.

In addition to the books, the 16-year-old, who wants to be an attorney, also got a tablet computer and headphones in her package.

“I wanted a tablet to assist me with my school work and I got it. This is awesome!” she told the Jamaica Observer .

By this time, most of the gifts were unwrapped, except the keyboard, a guitar and a bicycle which were too large for them to take back to their seats.

The recipient of the keyboard said she always wanted to learn how to play it.

“I wanted a guitar for Christmas. I can play it a little bit [and] I am excited,” another ward of the state told Observer.

For one little girl, all she wanted for Christmas was to learn how to swim.

She, too, ticked off her wish from the list when she was presented with a gift certificate that will pay for her swimming lessons as well as purchase swimming gear.

Managing director of FLOW Jamaica Stephen Price said the idea was an amazing one and applauded the employees for making it possible.

“They did it out of the goodness of their hearts and pockets, just to make sure that these dreams and wishes came true,” Price said.

At the same time, he thanked Restaurants of Jamaica for providing meals for the children and their caregivers during the presentation ceremony.

In addition, he also thanked the Child Protection and Family Services Agency for allowing FLOW and its employees to demonstrate that they really care about children in State care.