Facebook Memory popped onto my Newsfeed today — a picture of an expansive spread of games, socks, and laundry soap purchased by my co-worker Marcus for our annual holiday charity drive. I told him I was thrilled at his generous donation. He told me his motivation stemmed from vivid memories of being on the receiving end of donated toys as a young child. As a successful adult, he said he appreciates the chance to pay it forward on the other side of a Christmas gesture.
Marcus works at the right place to be around such charitable opportunities. While most businesses hold toy drives for their employees and customers, ours is a little unique. Ten years ago, the team leaders at Jim Hudson Lexus gave me the approval to launch my vision for a campaign I describe as a “toy drive on steroids”. In addition to new toys, we also collect other essential items such as paper products and personal hygiene items to donate to local nonprofit agencies for the clients they serve. A fan of numerical marketing, I randomly selected the number 15 and decided that we would collect 15 different items between November 15 and December 15. The 15 Gifts of Christmas project was born.
The 15 Gifts of Christmas campaign is predicated on the notion that people are generous by nature — you just need to leverage that tendency with a little motivation and creativity. We are all out shopping anyway, so it’s easy to add an extra tube of toothpaste or pack of Kleenex to the cart. We are stopping by the Lexus dealership anyway, so it’s convenient to drop off a gift of children’s socks or washcloths. I’ve had people take the list of 15 and make a dedicated trip to for all the gifts and then enjoy the process of putting each item in the appropriate bin at the dealership. More often, the donations are singular and spontaneous, allowing all the chance to contribute no matter what their current financial status may be.
Which leads me to another dynamic of the campaign — everyone can participate. People may be struggling themselves but still want the honor of contributing to philanthropic activities in the workplace. 15 Gifts of Christmas has no minimum donation amount. For the price of a pack of diapers, an individual can know that he has joined an effort to ameliorate the gaping need that so many struggling families face. No matter how much we suffer with our own issues, the holidays remind us that we have a kinship with one another in that suffering, and that service is essential to our kinship.
I recall one year’s shopping trip for 15 Gifts at Target. It was a rare quiet evening in the store, and I was slow and thoughtful in my selection of items, imagining the precise moment of need in each purchase. I knew that the Lydia Project places small lotions or Kleenex into handmade bags of support for women with cancer. I had experience with the value pet toys offer rescue workers attempting to bond with scared animals who have been abandoned. I understood that the Rape Crisis Center uses the gallon Ziploc bags to hold essentials like a toothbrush and washcloth for women arriving after horrific violence. I learned that if those women have small children with them, they are given Beanie Baby sized stuffed animals for comfort. At Target, I held a small Beanie Baby in my hands, rubbing the soft brown fur of a hedgehog with a smiling face, and hoped with all my heart that it would make the recipient feel a little better at a difficult time. I might have shed a tear in that moment, but like I said, Target was quiet, so there were no witnesses.
That night of thoughtful shopping stays with me every year when I set up the donation bins. It is powerful to know that each holiday charitable gesture we make connects us to real-life stories and helps the workers and volunteers who live the stories every day feel the support of the greater community. I donate as much for these nonprofit team members as for the clients themselves. I try to envision the amount of strength required for one to be a source of comfort every day, and each year it moves me to purchase
one more Beanie Baby.
