Galina Caraman, writer for the Ocean Beach Good Time's OB paper, wrote a story about Operation Santa Clause.
Below is a copy of the word for word story and a link to the actual site.
http://goodtimesob.wordpress.com/ocean-beach-calendar-of-events/operation-santa-claus-at-your-service/
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Operation Santa Claus at Your Service
By Galina Caraman
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life it’s highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.” – Francis Pharcellus Church
Christmas, 1991 – sad, sad day in my life; huge milestone in my existence. My Dad burst my bubble. My brother and I didn’t sleep the whole night waiting to see Santa just to discover our dad quietly placing the gifts under the tree. I threw a fit; I cried; I didn’t want to touch the presents. They got me some toys, what were they thinking anyway? I asked for a bicycle! Only if Santa existed… My Dad explained that Santa is a busy guy and that he was just helping him. I believed Dad; got over the drama and spent the next 18 years of my life on my quest for Santa Claus.
December, 2009 – my faith got restored! I found Santa on a craigslist add. Believe me or not San Diego Santa lives in Tierrasanta (cute neighborhood at the intersection of 15 and 52). His name is Jay Usher and he also has a Santa’s helper, Lynn Usher, which in real life is his wife. San Diego Santa is not quite the traditional old guy and white beard type of Santa Claus. Mr. Usher is modern; in his 30ies; computer programmer by day; but this Christmas he is being Santa to at least ten families with adopted and/or foster care kids in San Diego area.
It all started with a coffee. Every morning he feeds his addiction at a Starbucks downtown – a grande white mocha with an extra shot of espresso. “Very predictable” he says. But one Monday morning a couple of weeks ago was different. Starbucks had bunch of little ornaments with names of foster kids and what they want for Christmas. That inspired and got him thinking: “I should do the similar”. Went online and found hope4kids, a non profit foster care agency. They were looking for people to “adopt” a family in need for Christmas. Mr. Usher emailed them; ten minutes later Karleen Cox from hope4kids replied with a list of ten families he could choose from. He couldn’t pick just one and picked them all. After some more thinking, Mr. Usher figured that it might be a “little” hard to buy presents for ten families so he created
San Diego Grass Roots Giving
on meetup.com and invited everybody he knows to join. Within a couple of days they raised almost all the money and a bunch of games and toys; and then Santa and Santa’s helper went shopping. It was so cute to watch them going through every child’s “letter to Santa” and carefully deciding which one is getting what. I guess that’s how they do it on North Pole. The presents were modest; bought from Good Will, Ross, Wall Mart but they all were thought over, exactly what the kids were asking for plus a little piece of Mr. & Mrs. Usher’s heart. I’m sure they would put a smile on each of those little faces.
Christmas will be over soon but San Diego Grass Roots Giving will continue on helping others. They are working on the Operation Warm Winter which consists on collecting blankets and sleeping bags and donating them to the homeless.
“The goals for San Diego Grass Roots Giving are two fold. One is to help others in need. But just as importantly, I want people to get involved in the helping of others. These are difficult times and some of our problems are simply not possible to overcome by our selves. I believe if you cannot currently fix a problem you are facing, the best thing to do is help someone else with their problems. Put simply – Give What You Need.”
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