A Lot To Report

Hello World!

I've been a busy little bee, as one friend put it.

I created a new effort on my San Diego Grass Roots Giving meetup site. It is called Operation Santa Clause.

Yesterday morning I was mentally brainstorming ideas for December. I wanted to do something for this Holiday season - better late than never.

There is a Starbucks in my work building and as I picked up my Grande White Mocha I saw these little ornaments with kids names on them and 3 gifts they wanted.

Well you almost always have a few minutes to wait before your toasty beverage is ready. So I read the piece of paper explaining these little ornaments. Starbucks is partnering up with a charity to adopt an orphanage in Russia. All the gifts will be flown to the orphanage in time for Christmas.

I grabbed an ornament and wanted to be part of that.

I got to thinking, we should do that!

When I got to my desk I did a quick Craig's List search and discovered a charity who needed people to adopt foster families for Christmas. Same thing - buy 3 gifts for each kid, but they also request gift cards for the parents and a gift the whole family can enjoy together.

Well I got to cracking. I know God will meet me half way on these things - but I am of the opinion I need to get it started first.

I emailed the charity and got a response about ten minutes later.

End of story - we are adopting TEN families! They were ecstatic.

Then I found out the deadline was 4 days away! Ooops!

I got an extension to 8 days. Still, that is not much time.

According to my calculations, we need a minimum of $1100.

I have been working non-stop since then.

Today we have a dedicated Operation Santa Clause website accepting paypal donations.

We have a Craig's List ad pointing to the website.

We have collected $400 within 24 hours.

That means we are 25% there!

Only 75% more to go!

I have engaged in an aggressive email and FaceBook campaign seeking to spread the word as far and fast as possible.

People in China are going to know about Operation Santa Clause by tomorrow. Kidding. But then again, maybe not.

If I had more time I would create a You Tube video. Shucks!

So I am looking to God for some miracles here. I certainly am doing all that I can think of.

There are really two major tasks involved in Operation Santa Clause.

1. Raise $1100-1600.
2. Buy all the presents and gift cards and organize them for pickup.

Both are daunting.

But I really think we're going to be making a huge impact in those ten families lives.

I know God will be there to fill the gaps.