Kelly Martin speaks at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Kelly Martin speaks at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

‘Happiest time’

Realtors donate holiday gifts to at-risk kids.

Holiday gifts for at-risk youth were presented to representatives from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District during the annual awards ceremony of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors on Thursday.

The association filled 20 duffel bags with holiday presents for kids enrolled in the district’s Students in Transition program.

“It’s a really amazing thing,” said Nicole Murphy, a district coordinator with the Students in Transition program.

She said the opportunity to distribute holiday gifts to kids in the school district is always a highlight of the season, particularly considering that the gifts are given to kids from people who don’t know them.

“I think it almost, in a way, means more because it’s this person that (the students) don’t know.”

Students in Transition is a federally funded program that aims to address the needs of youth in the school district who lack a permanent, stable and adequate place to sleep at night, according to the district website.

Murphy said this is the fourth year the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors has donated holiday gifts to the kids in the program.

Kelly Martin, the CEO of the Association of Realtors, said philanthropic work is part of what the association prides itself on.

“Realtors get involved in their community,” she said. “We just have a very giving group of people.”

In Murphy’s presentation to the association, she said through her work she hopes to dispel negative public perceptions about the reality of families and students experiencing homelessness on the peninsula.

“The misconception is that this kid just doesn’t want to be at home and they don’t want to follow the rules,” she said. “Statistics show otherwise.”

Many students Murphy works with, she said, are actually leaving dangerous situations at home.

And around the holidays, many kids aren’t used to getting presents, she said.

Murphy described a couple Students in Transition kids she’s worked with have echoed similar concerns around this time of year: Why would someone I don’t know want to get me a gift? I’ve always been let down around the holidays, why will this be any different?

“Giving these gifts to the kids is like my happiest time, to be able to see their faces and see their response, because they’re not expecting it,” Murphy said.

The gifts will be distributed to kids in the program in the next two weeks leading up to Christmas.

For more information on the Students in Transition program visit the group’s webpage on the KPBSD site or on Facebook.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.

Holiday gifts for youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, donated by members of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors, are gathered in duffel bags during the organization’s annual award ceremony at Kenai Catering in Kenai on Thursday. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Holiday gifts for youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, donated by members of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors, are gathered in duffel bags during the organization’s annual award ceremony at Kenai Catering in Kenai on Thursday. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Jacquelynn Tomrdle, left, and Nicole Murphy, right, present on behalf of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Students in Transition program at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Jacquelynn Tomrdle, left, and Nicole Murphy, right, present on behalf of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Students in Transition program at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors pose with donated holiday gifts for youth experiencing or at risk for experiencing homelessness during its annual award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors pose with donated holiday gifts for youth experiencing or at risk for experiencing homelessness during its annual award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Jacquelynn Tomrdle, left, and Nicole Murphy, right, present on behalf of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Students in Transition program at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Jacquelynn Tomrdle, left, and Nicole Murphy, right, present on behalf of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Students in Transition program at the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors award ceremony at Kenai Catering on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

More in News

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks at a town hall meeting in the Moose Pass Sportsman’s Club in Moose Pass, Alaska, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Insurance authorization bill sponsored by Bjorkman, Ruffidge becomes law

The bill requires insurance companies and health care providers to meet new deadlines for authorizing requests for care.

A map of the Johnson Tract Mine exploration project. Photo courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity
Inletkeeper, partners file lawsuit against Cook Inlet gold mine

The Johnson Tract Mine is located on CIRI-owned lands inside Lake Clark National Park.

A sockeye salmon is carried from the waters of Cook Inlet on North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, during the first day of the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai River dipnet fishery open 24 hours beginning Friday night

Per fish counts available from the department, 471,000 sockeye have been counted so far this year — with 108,000 counted on Wednesday alone.

Attorneys Eric Derleth and Dan Strigle speak to Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson during the opening arguments of State of Alaska v. Nathan Erfurth at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opening arguments offered in Erfurth trial

The trial is set to continue for around two weeks, into early August.

Evacuees in Seward, Alaska, walk along Adams Street following a tsunami warning on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Tsunami warning canceled following 7.3 earthquake near Sand Point

An all clear was issued for Kachemak Bay communities at 1:48 p.m. by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management.

The Ninilchik River on May 18, 2019, in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Ninilchik River to remain closed to king salmon fishing

It was an “error in regulation” that would have opened the Ninilchik River to king salmon fishing on Wednesday.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death

Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward resident arrested after Monday night police pursuit

Troopers say she led them on a high-speed chase on Kalifornsky Beach Road for around 7 miles.

Most Read