At rock bottom, Santa boxes were a comfort

Childrens’ delight prompts single mom to return favour

Joan Beattie’s life fell apart in1957. Her husband abandoned her and three children younger than the age of 4; there was nowhere to go, no money for anything. To top it off, Christmas was just around the corner.

“If it hadn’t been for the local church, which sent our names for the Santa Claus Fund, my children would have got nothing,” says Beattie, now 82. The Toronto Star’s Santa Claus Fund boxes, filled with shirts, candy, mittens, hats and even some fruit, made that Christmas, and the next five, much easier to deal with.

That knock on the door and a smiling stranger handing three boxes loaded with presents — Beattie says she never forgot the squeals of delight and the kindness.

That is why, this year, she was the first person to call and make a donation for the fund. “Was I the first (to donate)?” she asks. “That’s good.”

It wasn’t her first time, she has now donated four years in a row, she said.

She donated $150 — money that she would have spent on Christmas gifts. “I didn’t need them . . . but many children do,” says Beattie, who lives in the township of Tiny in Ontario.

She made the donation in the name of her late second husband John Douglas Beattie.

The Santa Claus Fund is a charity that gives gift boxes to children under the age of 12. This year’s goal is to reach out to 45,000 kids in the five cities of Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax and Pickering.

When Beattie’s children received the Santa Claus boxes, the family lived in a “low rental apartment” near Steeles and Sheppard Aves. in Toronto. Incidentally, her sister’s seven children also received the boxes around the same years.

“They were all so excited when they saw the boxes for the first time . . . they didn’t know they were going to get anything at all, you know.”

One year, she remembers, she took out all the gifts from the boxes, got some colourful paper from her neighbours and wrapped up the presents individually.

“There were so many presents to open . . . the kids were very happy with Santa.”

Beattie says her daughter, now 62, saw a picture of the Santa Claus Fund box in the Toronto Star a few days ago and was very happy that it still continues to make children happy.

“She looked at the picture and said ‘they’ve upgraded it,’ but it is still all the same.”

Her younger children, who are now 60 and 59, also remember the boxes, but the oldest daughter “has a clear and a happy memory. She kept much of the stuff (from the boxes) for a number of years.”

For Beattie, life got better a few years later. She met John Douglas Beattie, her second husband who loved her and her children. He died 15 years ago at the age of 58. He always loved the concept of the Santa Claus Fund, she says.

“That’s why I wanted to donate.” If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.