In a building where rising to the top of a list is important, a Gainesville woman and her seven children were just glad to be on a list.

Maria Calderon and her seven children, who arrived almost 30 minutes early to a Christmas Eve celebration at Gainesville Elementary School, were happy to be among the 200 people on the school's guest list.

"I did not know what time it would be so we came at this time," she said.

They were among the first of almost 50 families expected for the city school's first holiday dinner.

Most "wouldn't have Christmas otherwise," said Yvonne Zalewski, the school's assistant principal.

The guest list represents the school's most needy families, said Principal Shawn McCullough.

Diane Mendoza, school secretary at the first-year school, said it was the first such event she could remember in her 16-year career with the city system.

The new elementary school may have set an example for other schools to follow. Most have a history of collecting food and Christmas presents for needy students and their families.

In 2002, Myers Elementary, a Hall County school, helped 148 children and 60 families. Students at Centennial Elementary School filled barrels of canned goods.

This year, volunteers at Gainesville Elementary chose instead to invite their students' families to join in a celebration at the McEver Road Extension school.

Calderon and her children waited patiently for it to begin. She said she did not know what to expect.

Nearby, volunteers were putting the final touches on a meal, preparing for entertainment and wrapping gifts for the children.

All around Calderon, the volunteers were working at a hectic pace.

Teachers, administrators and school staff scrambled to prepare a dinner that included chicken and donations from five local restaurants. Other volunteers put gifts around a Christmas tree in the school's auditorium.

McCullough said a minimum of three donated gifts had been set aside for each child. And each one also would receive a school uniform, he said.

"If we have the ability, we are obligated to help our community," McCullough said.