Santa fund donations in lieu of gift giving
Family directs their money to different charity each year
A few years ago, the Reynolds family confronted a Christmas conflict familiar to many.
Norris and Janet Reynolds have two kids. Norris has a mother and a brother; the brother has a girlfriend. Janet has a brother too, and a sisterin-law. That couple has three kids. Some of those kids have since had their own kids.
“The Christmas giving of gifts just sort of expanded and expanded and expanded,” Norris Reynolds said. Finding presents for everyone year after year had become relentless, rather than joyful. Each family member would rack their minds for something they might want — and often end up with something generic, like an LCBO gift card.
“We’re in a position where we don’t really need a lot of things and in many cases you’re trying to find a gift for someone who doesn’t need a lot of things.”
The whole family agreed to scrap the whole extended-family-presentbuying ordeal and replace it with something much simpler: an annual charitable gift.
In late October, Norris Reynolds finished most of his holiday “shopping” with a few simple clicks when he donated to the Santa Claus Fund online. He dusted off the Christmas list so early, in fact, that at 9:01a.m. on Oct. 24 he also became the first donor to the 2015 fund, which has set a fundraising goal of $1.7 million. That money will provide gift boxes for 45,000 underprivileged children around the GTA, each filled with age-specific toys and warm clothing.
The family chooses a selection of charities every holiday season and has also donated money to organizations that focus on disaster relief. But they picked the Santa Claus Fund because it touches lives right here in the GTA.
“It’s home,” says Reynolds, who lives in Burlington. “It’s like going to a market and buying locally.”
And on top of that, “It’s a recognizable effort that has been going on for quite a few years.” In fact, the Santa Claus Fund was established in 1906, when Toronto Star founder Joseph E. Atkinson established the charity in recognition of his own impoverished upbringing and the joy that a charitable Christmas gift of ice skates brought him as a child.
Norris Reynolds says that since the extended clan made the decision to donate to charity instead of piling up presents, they haven’t looked back.
“Jan and I are both retired, and if there’s something we really want, we’ll go out and get it. It’s not as though we generally wait around until Christmas and say, ‘I hope someone’s going to give us (this).’ We’ll just go and get it. We’re fortunate enough to be in a position to do that.
“You figure you give a few hundred dollars to this charity and a hundred dollars to this charity . . . it’s going to do an awful lot more good than running around and buying a $50 gift here and a $60 gift there.” If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.