by Eileen Goldenberg

Created on: August 17, 2009

There is a little neighborhood called Davis Islands in Florida, three connecting islands where all the streets are named after bodies of water.

About ten years ago, on a night in early December, mysterious wooden signs appeared at different points around the islands.

The residents of the island were curious and excited to find out the meaning of these signs. The signs stood about two feet high, painted in red and green, and showed a small child handing a gift to a smiling Santa. Each one said "Santa Stop", and had a number from one to twenty. A few days later, an explanation came in the form of a flyer delivered to each house by two rollerblading women.

The flyer was addressed to the children and explained that Santa would be coming to their street on December 10th and asking for their help. This year there were so many less fortunate children and Santa was worried he would run out of toys and gifts. He wanted to make sure that no child would be going without a gift to open on Christmas morning. Could they please help Santa, and have a brand new, unwrapped toy, ready for Santa when he came? Would they wait with their neighbors at one of the "Santa Stops" closest to their house? There was a separate note for parents on the back, asking them to shop for gifts and explaining the Toy Drive in detail.

The two rollerbladers were my sister and I and this is the story of how we are trying to make our own community better, by making a merrier Christmas for others less fortunate.

My sister is Jeanne, the popular owner of a gift shop on the island, and I am a local artist in town. When Jeanne first had this brainstorm, she asked me for help and I thought the idea was brilliant and agreed right away. With some artist friends, and helper elves, I built and painted a giant sleigh and eight life sized reindeer, including Rudolph with a light -up nose!

Right next to Serendipity is a wonderful ice cream shop owned by Dennis, a roly-poly cheerful guy. Jeanne asked Dennis to be our Santa, and he said yes immediately.

Now we had our Santa, and Santa had his transportation. We were ready to go. However, would anyone show up, we wondered? Would children and their parents be waiting at the Santa Stops with toys for Santa?

As it turned out, the families shopped all week for special toys and gifts. Some had just one carefully selected toy, and some filled giant bags with dolls, games, and stuffed animals. Some bought sports equipment and there were even a few brand new bicycles!

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>