CHESTER, PA--(Marketwired - December 20, 2016) - On Monday, December 19, Santa Claus hand-delivered gifts to more than 1,000 kindergarten-through-second graders at Chester Community Charter School (CCCS), the largest K-8 charter school in Pennsylvania, as part of the school's annual "Santa Brigade" holiday program, which took place on each of the school's three campuses: East, West and Upland.

Santa Claus will also visit kindergarten-through-second graders at two additional CSMI-managed schools, Atlantic Community Charter School, in Galloway, NJ, and Camden Community Charter School, in Camden, NJ, this week.

Vahan Gureghian, CEO of CSMI, the school's management company, together with his wife, Danielle, donated approximately $17,000 to fund the purchase of this year's gifts. Thus far, Mr. and Mrs. Gureghian have contributed more than $500,000 to Santa Brigade initiatives, for charter schools students, since the program's inception, 17 years ago.

Additionally, CCCS recently hosted, on its West campus, together with the Andrew L. Hicks, Jr. Foundation, a "pop-up" Holiday Toy Store, wherein students were able to shop for toys and other Christmas gifts with "Monopoly money," in an effort to ensure that Chester-area students and their families had an opportunity to purchase holiday items.

Commenting on the festivities, Dr. David Clark, CEO of the charter school, said, "We host our Santa Brigade, and other holiday programs, because of our dedication to the students and their families. CCCS is an educational beacon, here, in Chester, but our reach goes beyond the classroom, and into the homes of our students. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gureghian's donations, thousands of Chester students have had joyous holiday seasons, over the years."

About Chester Community Charter School

Chester Community Charter School opened its doors on September 9, 1998, serving 97 students from its modest, four, meeting rooms, in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel, in Chester, PA. Since that time, the school has steadily grown to include more than 3,000 students in 11 state-of-the-art-buildings, spanning three campuses. Through collaboration with the Gureghian Charitable Foundation, and CCCS' High School Search and Selection Program, more than $9.5 million in scholarships and financial assistance to prestigious private secondary schools has been awarded to 225 of the school's graduates, since 2009. http://chestercommunitycharter.org

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