Blue Santa - Dan Dennis

Can you imagine kids without Christmas toys? Moms without baby blankets and other needs for their infants? Poor people going hungry – at the holidays?

Well, it almost happened, right here in Austin, Texas – our home town, until the good people at The Jewelry Channel USA (and lots of others like us) came to the rescue.

Here’s the story:

I was sitting at home one evening, watching with my wife Linda our favorite news cast at 10pm, when on came a story about the good people of the Blue Santa Drive, and the terrible predicament they were in. Every year, these people give 14,000 toys, infant & baby needs and non-perishable food products to those in need. They get about 50% of their donations on one day from a parade that is held through the streets of Austin on a glorious Saturday morning. A long standing tradition, the children come to the parade and when the time is right, rush to special floats that accept the toys and other gifts and put them on display as the parade continues on its’ merry way. Problem was, this year, the weather for the parade was a not-so-glorious 42 degrees and raining. Oh and I do mean raining. They were hoping for at least 7,000 toys from the parade, but the weather being what it was, kept the attendance down to a minimum, and when all was said and done, the total toy donation was less than 2,000. Someone had to do something to help.

“Well,” I said to my wife, “The Jewelry Channel is not the biggest employer in the greater-Austin area, but we do have a great group of people working here, and if someone takes control of this effort, we can do our share.” The very next day, I knew what I had to do. Although I already have two jobs at the network, this one, was a labor of love. With blessings from above, and the help from our ever-helpful Human Resources department, I went to work, sending out emails and putting up posters that were dropped off by the Blue Santa Fund throughout our building. With approximately 180 employees, I decided, and HR agreed, that we should shoot for 200 toys, putting us to the challenge of more than one per employee.

We had just about a week or so to pull this off, so Linda and I went shopping that very next day at a local discount store, and filled a shopping cart full of goodies. Others chipped in with more than one toy per person also, and the toy donation box began to fill – over and over again. When all was said and done, the generous people of The Jewelry Channel USA had donated over 230 toys to the cause, and that didn’t count the food, and the big box of promotional products that the company itself kicked in as well.

Don’t you love happy endings? I hope so, because this one had a very happy ending. It turns out that a local wealthy financier gave a generous $10,000 anonymous check to the cause, and that alone bought a lot of things. Blue Santa ended up meeting and exceeding all of their goals for all of those in need, and everyone had a happy holiday indeed.

Although our part was a small part, The Jewelry Channel, and its’ employees should feel proud for what they did. It is much better to give, than to receive.

Happy Holidays!

More coming soon.

Dan Dennis