Bicycle? Check. Books? Check. Warm coat? Check. Food? Check.
La Plata County residents give with open hearts during the holidays, and nowhere is that more evident than at Project Merry Christmas, where the gift-collection room would put Santa’s workshop to shame.
“It started when the people who worked in social services saw all these families who wouldn’t have a Christmas, and they didn’t have any way to help them,” longtime board member Anna Marie Bishop said. “So they put some boxes out in the hall to collect food and some toys.”
A tenfold increase
That was in 1985, and in those early years, Project Merry Christmas made sure about 50 families had something special for the holidays. Between population growth, the recession and the higher profile of Project Merry Christmas, that number has increased tenfold, hovering at around 500 families for several years. In 2013, Project Merry Christmas will reach 520 families.
Children, eighth-graders and younger, receive several toys; their families receive food vouchers for a holiday meal, vouchers to one of the participating local thrift stores and a box of nonperishable food items. And there are bags and bags of clothes, including lots of coats and new shoes.
“We try to make sure that every senior gets a blanket,” board member Cathy Crum said.
Many of the blankets come via Four Corners Broadcasting’s Saturday blanket drives during the holidays, when the company’s staff members volunteer their time, often on quite chilly days, to collect not only blankets, but monetary donations and items such as toys and clothes.
“One guy showed up with a Chevy Tahoe on Saturday, and the backseat and back were completely full of brand-new blankets,” said Ward Holmes, regional manager for Four Corners and its sister company, Western Slope Broadcasting. “One lady spends a certain amount every month during the year and stockpiles the items. She shows up with boxes of children’s shoes, toys, clothes. ... The whole family comes with her to deliver them.”
The families who receive the community’s bounty are referred to Project Merry Christmas by schools, county social services and senior outreach programs. The organization collects the applications over a five-week period beginning in October.
About half the families, 238 this year, are taken care of by organizations – with churches, schools, service organizations and individuals all pitching in.
This year, all the donated goods have now been collected, and area firefighters are organizing all the donations for delivery to each family. On Saturday, they will load fire engines and play Santa.
A short season
“We have six days less this year,” said Judy Duke, president of The Salvation Army’s board of directors about the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. “We are just below $60,000 so far, which represents a lot of ringing. A gold coin was put in the kettle this year, which is always exciting and appreciated.”
Another donation that will be remembered was a check for $5,000.
“It made our ringer, a board member, overwhelmed and tearful,” she said. “The donor got a really big hug from her.”
Last year, through holiday bell-ringing and other sources, The Salvation Army raised about $111,000, with money going to keep people in their homes, gas, food and utility vouchers, and other basic necessities.
Duke said that to make up for the shorter ringing season, a matching kettle campaign was begun, where local businesses will match whatever is donated into a particular kettle on a specific day.
Businesses include Target Rental, Hampton Inn, First National Bank of Durango, Strater Hotel, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and an anonymous donor.
Project Merry Christmas felt the shorter season, too.
“This year, everything’s really condensed,” Project Merry Christmas Board President Tauni Gosche said. “It’s going to be a couple of years until we get our lost week back.”
Until Dec. 8, the organization’s angel tree at Durango Mall and the bell tree at Walmart were still full because people hadn’t picked a gift to buy yet.
“We started freaking out about the hundreds of angels left,” board member Susie Patalan said. “We got on the radio and Facebook, asking people to go get angels, and by the time we finished, there were only about 25 gifts we had to buy, out of hundreds.”
About 30 children will find a new bicycle under the Christmas tree, and the number of stuffed animals, books and other toys for the 1,200 to 1,500 children Project Merry Christmas is helping this year would require hours of computing.
Staying home for a change
“Our No-Go Gala is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Manna Soup Kitchen’s Executive Director Kathy Tonnessen said. “People pay us to stay home, and I think they really appreciate that.”
Locals’ mailboxes have been full of mailed appeals for end-of-the-year giving in recent weeks, and most nonprofits find December to be a time when their organizations get a shot in the arm.
Manna averages about 16 percent of its annual donations from individuals in December, Tonnessen said, making it the biggest single month of the year.
“That’s in a good year,” she said, “I don’t want people to think we’ve already gotten that yet this year.”
Only fundraising of the year
For both Project Merry Christmas and The Salvation Army, this time of the year is the only time they raise money.
“We get a couple of checks for $500 or $1,000,” Project Merry Christmas board member Barbara Gysel said. “But one day a man walked up to our wrapping booth with some money wadded up in his fist and handed it to a volunteer. He said, ‘It’s not very much,’ and walked away. It was $1.31, and the fact that he gave what he had made the volunteer start crying.”
Only a small portion of Project Merry Christmas’ fundraising goes to cover its own expenses.
“Except for a few administrative costs, everything goes to the families,” Gosche said. “But every year we’re homeless, and we have to find a place. Landlords are so generous – this year, Dan Hopper is letting us have this space (in the strip mall where Animas High School used to be) for two months for free.”
Hopper is not the only one. By the time Project Merry Christmas closes out Christmas 2013, it will have received donations from groups such as Creeper Jeepers and book clubs; businesses such as BP and the Wells Group; A & L Coors Inc., donating a portion from this month’s sales of Coors; proceeds from Vallecito bake sales; and spirited bidding at a bachelor auction.
“Everything’s spent locally, so I can’t begin to imagine what it does for the local economy,” Gosche said. “This is truly a La Plata County effort, and everything stays in La Plata County.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
To donate
Project Merry Christmas: Donations may be mailed to Project Merry Christmas, P.O. Box 422, Durango, CO 81302, or dropped off at the gift-wrapping booth at the Durango Mall.
The booth, the organization’s only fundraiser of the year, will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Monday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.
To volunteer for Project Merry Christmas in 2014, call 247-7944.
The Salvation Army: For donations to stay in La Plata County, they must go to the local chapter of the Salvation Army. Donations may be dropped in any kettle through Christmas Eve or mailed to P.O. Box 3296, Durango, CO 81302.
To learn more about The Salvation Army, visit www.salvationarmy.org.
Manna Soup Kitchen: Donations to Manna Soup Kitchen may be sent to P.O. Box 1196, Durango, CO 81302.
