Commerce community rallies to fund Christmas trip for special education students

Dozens of Commerce special education students will take a Christmas trip to Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange after community members and local businesses rallied behind a holiday initiative started by a teacher.

Commerce High School special education teacher Wes Massey started the "GAA Christmas Celebration," named for the Georgia Alternate Assessment, in 2024. That first year, 31 volunteers and community sponsors made a meal possible. With even more support in 2025, Massey worked with Great Wolf Lodge to plan a trip for students and their parents, leaving Commerce High School by charter bus on Jan. 11.

"It's a daily struggle. It's a fight for these parents, and a lot of times, they can't take them to places."
— Wes Massey, to AccessWDUN

Massey told AccessWDUN his goal is for the celebration to grow beyond Commerce City Schools to every school system in the county where he lives.

"I truly feel it's a calling of mine to kind of get this thing rolling and just see where it leads."
— Wes Massey

Original reporting by Caleb Hutchins, AccessWDUN. Photo: AccessNorthGA.