Ex-columnist carried on giving tradition
Dave Perkins’ desk became a mountain of envelopes every year
Just over 20 years ago, former Star sports columnist Dave Perkins was sitting at his office desk, doing what he always did when the Sportsmen’s Corner of the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund was rolling.
Perkins was opening envelopes, reading mostly handwritten letters from donors and making sure donations were processed.
Back then, it was the “Sportsmen’s Corner” of the fund, a moniker that Perkins changed to the Proudfoot Corner, in honour of the late Jim Proudfoot, who graced the pages of the Star as a columnist and sports editor, before he died in 2001. Like others before him, Proudfoot made sure that donors to the Corner (which started in 1946) would see their names in boldface in his columns, and Perkins took over the tradition.
As it usually was — and is — with Perkins, there was a story behind the change in name.
“I’m going back 20 years on this, but as you know, when Jim got sick, I was given the job of carrying the ball for what he called the Sportsmen’s Corner,” said Perkins, now retired but still keeping his keen eye on sports, especially baseball.
“Where that Sportsmen’s name came from I can only guess. Conn Smythe, well known to Jim and vice-versa, assembled and commanded an artillery group known as the Sportsman’s Battery in World War II. That might have kept the word fresh in Jim’s mind when he commenced raising funds, but 20 years ago the word wasn’t so fresh.
“With Jim ailing, and with so many notes paying tribute to Jim coming in with the donations, I thought it made sense to honour him and his years of commitment to kids. One day I just arbitrarily decided to change it. Call it a small legacy for Jim. No one seemed to mind. That’s the story, as far as I recall.”
And it’s a good story, as is the tradition of the Corner and the Fund. Now in its 116th year, the Star Santa Claus Fund is off and running, with the Proudfoot Corner launching this weekend. Every year, the paper relies on thousands of donors to help meet its fundraising goal, and more importantly, to reach tens of thousands of kids around the Toronto area with a gift box that helps brighten a Christmas season that can be difficult for some.
This season, the Star and its army of volunteers will be distributing 50,000 gift boxes — up 5,000 from last year — to disadvantaged children across Toronto, Mississauga, Ajax and Pickering. The fundraising goal is $1.5 million, and the volunteers — who stuff those boxes into their own vehicles, and often spend six or more hours on the days they make deliveries — aim to have the boxes delivered by Christmas.
The fund will run through to Dec. 31, and will once again join forces with papers in Mississauga (the Mississauga News Santa Claus Fund), Brampton (the Brampton Guardian Santa Claus Fund) and Ajax-Pickering (The Ajax-Pickering News Advertiser Santa Claus Fund).
Former publisher Joseph Atkinson began the tradition in 1906. The inspiration for Atkinson, in part, came from a story from his childhood, when a woman gave him a pair of skates after noticing him looking on at other children skating at a neighbourhood rink.
Perkins’s desk went from a mostly neat sitting area, to a mountain of envelopes, when he began his annual processing routine for the Proudfoot Corner. It was time consuming, but never a “chore.” Those boxes are aimed for children 12 and under, and contain items, including a hoodie, hat, mitts, socks, a book, a small toy, cookies, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.
As for this Christmas season, Perkins, who retired in 2013, says he’s “worn out by poorly played, four-hour baseball games.”