Caring and sharing: Mat-Su Special Santa provides gifts for thousands of Valley children

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

In fact, in the Mat-Su Valley, there are literally hundreds of “Special Santas” who have delivered joy and gifts to more than 15,000 local girls and boys from birth to 18 since 1997.

Mari Jo Parks, Chief Elf Organizer and recipient of a 2010 First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Award for Lifetime Achievement, said the group of 12 year-round volunteers — and dozens more seasonal volunteers — shared the spirit of Christmas with more than 3,000 children last year alone.

“It is a community program with 12 amazing people behind the scenes,” Parks said. “I get to be the face of it, but by no means am I alone in this.”

Katie, 4, and her mother Melissa Riese were at Santa’s workshop Wednesday filling the lists for two girls about Katie’s age, her mom said.

“I wanted to wait until she was old enough to understand,” said Riese.

Riese said her neighbor Brenda Arney is a long-time volunteer and encouraged them to get involved, too.

She said she waited a few years to bring her daughter along so she would be old enough to experience the caring and sharing part of Christmas and understand.

“I wanted her to experience the part of Christmas that isn’t just ‘I want. I want,’ ” Riese said.

Mother and daughter had already found one item on the girl’s list, the game Hi Ho Cherry O.

“It would be neat if we could watch her open it, but we know she’ll like it,” Riese said.

Some very Special Santas

The Valley’s largest gift giving program wouldn’t be possible without the Valley’s largest network of volunteers, Parks said.

She ticked off a long list of groups that volunteer, donate cash, gifts or meals for the elves, including Bishops Attic, Barnes and Nobel, KFC, Subway, Chepos, Pizza Time, Kings Asian Buffet, Donut King, House of Bread, Mocha Moose, Palmer Junior Middle School Honor Society, Wasilla High School Honor Society, local churches, Lions Clubs, Rotarys, the United Way, homeschool families, the Boy and Girl Scout groups and the Christian Motorcycle Association’s Midnight Sun Chapter.

“Some groups come every year,” she said.

Mat-Su Special Santas come in all shapes and sizes, Parks said. One very Special Santa is a young girl who donated $2 from her piggy bank, she said.

Parks beamed with pride when telling the story of a group of 42 PJMS students who volunteered in the workshop, then went back to school and decided they had to do more.

“Now they are fund-raising on their own,” Parks said. “One girl is donating her birthday money and another is giving her baby-sitting money. They are working together to bring Christmas to other kids.”

The gifts of time, talent and treasure each Special Santa gives is unique, as are the gifts they get in return, she said.

“Those of us who are part of this get so much more than any child on Christmas morning,” Parks said. “Some volunteers say it’s given them back Christmas.”

How it works

Parents complete an application and their child fills out a wish list on the same page, Parks said. Then as volunteers come into the workshop, they pick a child’s name and begin gathering the items on the wish list. Every child gets a game, a book and one of the top three items on their wish list.

Sometimes the lists are filled with toys, but often kids ask for very basic things, like blankets, a bed or deodorant,” Parks said.

“All of the toys collected in the Valley, stay in the Valley,” she said.

This year, Parks said the group also is partnering with Toys for Tots to collect and distribute toys in the Valley.

The Christian Motorcycle Association’s Midnight Sun Chapter members volunteer their services annually to help collect toys from drop off sites and deliver them to the workshop. And, once the gift pickup times start, they also help with traffic control.

“We have a good time,” said Toby Prescott who was at the workshop to deliver several bags of toys he’d collected from area drop boxes. He said another volunteer was on his way in with 71 new toys he picked up from Nana Construction in Big Lake.

It’s the fourth year the group has been part of the Special Santas, he said. In addition to picking up toys from donations sites across the Valley and directing traffic at the workshop during gift distribution days, this year members also made a $500 donation, Prescott said.

Volunteers make it possible

Each year the number of Special Santas in the Valley increases, as do the number of children who need them, Parks said.

“We start with nothing and by Christmas every year we’ve given out 3,000 gifts. That’s this community’s generosity. I can’t say enough about the community’s generosity,” she said.

Parks is also eager to point out that it’s her crew of a dozen core elves who truly make the project possible.

Brenda Arney is one of Parks’ year-round elves. This time of year, Arney is also known as ACE, or Assistant Chief Elf.

It’s her seventh year as a full-time volunteer and the non-profits bookkeeper.

“It’s become my No. 1 choice to volunteer,” Arney said. “I’m getting more than I give.”

She estimates she volunteers about 240 during the month of December, but she estimated that drops back to 100 hours a month in October and November. And it takes up much less of her time the rest of the year, she said.

It’s a tradition of giving she’s also shared with her family and friends, Arney said.

When Parks threw her a 60th birthday party, all the guests brought donations for the Special Santa program, she said.

And when her brother took a tour of Santa’s workshop while visiting from out of state, she said it inspired him to increase the size of his annual donation.

“And really, they haven’t stopped talking about it,” Arney said.

ACE said she also volunteers at several other events the group organizes throughout the year to raise money for the main event, Special Santa. Other annual fund-raisers that support the program are Mid Summer Garden and Art Fair, Halloween Hollow, Holiday Moment for Me, and a High Tea.

The program is a non-profit a 501(c) that operates under the umbrella of Alaska Family Services.

In addition to cash, also needed are all sizes of winter clothing, electronics, personal items, household items, general gifts, art supplies, sporting equipment, gift cards, educational models and games, books and toys for children of all ages.

Parks said Special Santa brings the community together to say ‘We care about you.’ ”

“It works. It really is an incredibly collaborative, majestic miracle.”

For more Information, visit specialsanta.org, send e-mail to matsu_santa@yahoo.com or call the elves’ hotline at 761-3770.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.