Operation Santa Claus gift drive plows on amid pandemic
Aroom on the third floor of the Butz Corporate Center in downtown Allentown is jam-packed with presents—from boots, board games, Barbie dolls and bicycles to coats, crayons, comic books and kids’ car seats.
No, Santa’s workshop didn’t relocate to the Lehigh Valley, but some of his honorary elves are hard at work at Ninth and Hamilton streets — collecting, wrapping and organizing gifts in hopes of making the holidays merry and bright for children in need.
The volunteer group, led by family members of Alvin H. Butz., Inc. leadership, over the past several weeks has been coordinating the annual Operation Santa Claus gift drive for children in need in Lehigh County.
The program, which dates to the early 1970s, provides toys, clothing and other requested items to hundreds of abused and neglected children in Lehigh County Children & Youth Services’ caseload every holiday season.
This year, individual donors and employees of corporate partners such as Air Products and Nestle Purina are purchasing gifts for more than 300 children, a roughly 40% drop in total individuals served compared to last year’s tally of approximately 500 kids, coordinator Dolly Butz said.
As of Thursday afternoon, 21 children, ranging from infants to teenagers, still needed sponsors.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic has played a part in fewer children requesting gifts this year,” said Butz, wife of Lee Butz, chairman of the board of Alvin H. Butz, Inc. Dolly Butz also is the longtime volunteer treasurer of The Fund to Benefit Children& Youth, an Allentown-based nonprofit organization helping abused, neglected, and at-risk children and their families in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
“At first, you’d think there would be more children in need of gifts, and this likely is true, but caseworkers aren’t visiting homes as regularly due to the pandemic, resulting in more children not being signed up for the program,” she explained. “Also, teachers are often the first people to report the abuse after noticing bruises, torn clothing and so forth. So, since many kids have been learning from home in recent months, they’ve lost that in-person connection.”
The state’s Department of Human Services confirmed that calls to the ChildLine hotline sharply declined during the pandemic, with a 41% drop in May, when mandated reporters had less contact with children. As schools and county offices reopened, reports increased, said department spokesperson Ali Fogarty. In October, calls were down only 9% from October 2019, she said. ChildLine all along has been accepting calls 24/7, though its workforce has been remote.
Lehigh County Children & Youth Services did not return a call about the volume of child abuse reports locally.
The agency had managed Operation Santa Claus for decades. Butz took control of it two years ago from a group of Moravian College volunteers, who briefly ran the program after Children & Youth pulled out.
Today, she’s assisted several other dedicated volunteers, including Luis Justo, Denise Watson and her family members — daughter, Shari Butz; grandson, Kevin McKeever and granddaughter, Kristy McKeever.
“When the Moravian volunteers said they couldn’t do it anymore and it was about to end completely, I knew that I had to do something because I couldn’t let that happen,” Dolly said. “‘I have two passions in life — underprivileged children and Christmas. So, I kind of think that I was the right person for the job at the right moment.”
Community members interested in sponsoring a child this holiday season should visit help lv. org. where they can check off gifts that they’ve chosen to purchase.
Gifts should be unwrapped and may be dropped off or mailed to 840 W. Hamilton St., Allentown, PA18101.
Morning Call features reporter and Retail Watch columnist Ryan Kneller can be reached at 610820-6597 or retailwatch@mcall. com.