Donors embrace spirit of giving
Most of you who get home delivery of your newspaper might wake up early and find it somewhere near your front door.
It’s hustled to your address overnight via a small army of hard-working folks who put hundreds of kilometres a week on their vehicles to get the pulp to the public. The paper is wrapped in a plastic bag if the weather is rotten, or rolled up in a rubber band.
Seven decades ago, when John Zeagman was delivering the Star, it was a little different. Zeagman started his rounds with a key. Bundles of newspapers would arrive at a drop-off point near his then home in Wildfield, Ont. — open country back in the day, but now a Caledon-area community at the intersection of The Gore and Mayfield roads.
When Zeagman arrived at the drop point he was met by “Mr. Lee in his lime green DeSoto.” Zeagman would be handed a key because the papers were bound by a locked copper band. The DeSoto would drive off and Zeagman would jump on his bike for deliveries to the 36 homes on his route.
That was done after school, not in the wee hours of the morning.
Zeagman, a long-time donor to the Proudfoot Corner of the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund, recalled one amusing hazard of life as a carrier at the time.
“I did it from Grade 3 to Grade 8,” he said. “The Star gave me a bike. It was red and silver … I liked delivering the Star. It was fun and something to do. I had to climb a fence. You had to do that to get to Mr. Kinney’s house, but he had cows there and I had to run fast so they wouldn’t chase me.”
Zeagman, now 77, says he was a fan of all of Toronto’s sports teams back then, when the Leafs and Argos dominated the sports pages, and remains just as faithful now — Leafs, Jays, Raptors, Argos, you name it.
He used to follow along via stories by legend Milt Dunnell, who became sports editor at the Star and carried on a tradition of writing that connected sports and the Santa Fund — a tradition started by former editor Andy Lytle in 1946 (at least that’s as far back as the Star’s crack library staff can trace it).
The Santa Fund itself has been around since 1906 and strives to achieve the same goal every year — to give needy children a gift box at Christmas. The generosity of donors lent a hand through the First and Second World Wars and the Depression. Today, in its 113th year, the target is to fill and deliver 46,000 boxes to local kids.
“I give (to the Santa Fund) to help the kids,” Zeagman says. “I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, I think, and I just remember how lucky I was to get gifts as a kid.”
Zeagman, a father of four, was a shinny hockey regular with friends in Burlington and Bolton until recently.
“I was average,” he says. “I love skating and hockey, but last year I fell and hurt myself, so I don’t do it as much anymore.”
Zeagman also played slo-pitch softball until he was 73 and still rides a mountain bike — 13 kilometres a day. He recalled the time he attended a local tryout by the old Milwaukee Braves at Hanlan’s Point Stadium. John O’Neil, a shortstop who played in the majors in 1946, was the third base coach for the Braves back then and ran the tryout. He recalls racking up five hits on a Tuesday and O’Neil, who also played over 1,800 games in the minors and coached the great Hank Aaron, asked Zeagman to come back Thursday. He didn’t.
“I never thought I was good enough to play in the major leagues, so I went to school and got on with Northern Telecom … I got a pension,” he says.
Sports, deliveries, donations, outrun- ning cows. Zeagman has led an active life, and his generosity is one reason why the Proudfoot Corner of the Star Santa Claus Fund is on the way to making a difference once again this Christmas. He isn’t alone when it comes to lending a hand before the holidays:
We’ve got $50 from Paul Lewis of Pickering, in memory of Arthur Penny … Nadia Vicente of Toronto sends $150 in memory of Michael Kleine-Hermelink … Ken Brandes of Toronto drops off $100 … Stouffville’s Cathy Robinson sends $50 in memory of former Star sports editor Gerry Hall … There’s $100 from Gord Maunder of Scarborough … Bill Betsworth donates $50 from East York … North York’s Betty Jacobs sends $50, while Tom and Sandy Cloutier of Toronto sent $200 … Another $100 comes from Milton’s Rick and Ruth Houle … William D. Howse sends $200 in memory of brave and loving Robert (Bob) Howse … Toronto’s Hubert Wooning sends $100, and there’s $240 from Kolarich and Friday Hockey Friends in Newmarket … Markham’s Tommy Perta delivers $50 in memory of Adelin and Patsy … Here’s to the memory of long-time Santa Fund benefactor Mort Greenberg: $50 from Jim and Sharon Bradley of Aurora … Another $50 from Lorne and Pam Bossin of Toronto … Kent Greeniaus of Mississauga sends $50 … There’s $25 from Ottawa’s Michael Kaczorowski … Roy and Diane Chapman of Toronto send $200 in memory of Owen Chapman … Former Star editor John C.P. King delivers $200 … Joe Trinca sends along $175 on behalf of the Trinca family of Etobicoke … There’s $100 from Ceri and Viola Stephens of Tottenham … Ian and Carol Marr of Belwood deliver $100 and add that it’s “great to see that a tradition such as the Corner continues bringing joy to some children who might otherwise not have any. I am most grateful that I am in a position to continue to support in my small way such a wonderful cause. Merry Christmas to all at the Star” … Robert Hepburn of Toronto comes through with $200 … Al Rose and Jerry (Gramps) Ingram of Etobicoke send $200 with a note: “We are still having fun running the high school hockey tournaments at York University! Seeing all these wonderful girls and boys enjoying their hockey sure puts a smile on our faces. This year, along with our annual donation, we are issuing a challenge to all our current and retired teaching colleagues across the province to send in a donation to help the kids as well. After all, with Jim Proudfoot and Mort Greenberg no longer with us, it is incumbent on the rest of us to keep Santa’s charitable spirit burning bright so that every boy and girl finds something under the tree on Christmas morning.”