Gainesville city employees and school children celebrated the 51st Annual Mayors’ Motorcade Send-off Wednesday with holiday tunes and a special visit from Santa.

The program collected enough gifts for all the 250 residents living at Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital in Rome where some mentally or behaviorally challenged Gainesville natives receive care, said Community Service Center senior secretary Carol LaMonica.

Gainesville residents and businesses also donated $1,000 to benefit Avita Community Partners, an agency that supports people coping with mental illness, developmental disabilities and addictive diseases.

"We are giving these people a holiday," LaMonica said. "A lot of these people may otherwise be forgotten."

The City Celebration Singers and students from Fair Street IB World School entertained senior citizens at the Senior Life Center before the presents were sent off to patients at the hospital.

LaMonica said the Georgia Municipal Association initiated the Mayors’ Motorcade program in cooperation with Gov. Ernest Vandiver to encourage citizens in each city to donate gifts for residents of Georgia’s seven regional behavioral health hospitals.

Gainesville Mayor Myrtle Figueras said the successful Christmas motorcade event and the school children’s loving spirits typify Gainesville’s generosity.

"It stresses that giving is the most important part of our lives, and Gainesville needs to continue to hear that message," Figueras said. "That’s the message of Christmas."