{"id":7315,"date":"2026-04-13T15:32:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T22:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/izquierdolastg.wpenginepowered.com\/?post_type=library_post&p=7315"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:45:59","slug":"santas-helpers","status":"publish","type":"library_post","link":"https:\/\/www.izlegal.com\/es\/library\/santas-helpers\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa\u2019s Helpers: A Moving Experience and a Worthwhile Cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a while now, my wife, Melissa, and I have been involved with an organization called Santa\u2019s Helpers. I have never experienced such a driven group of people who aim to brighten the world for families each year. Many people take Christmas and what it means to receive gifts for granted. For families who struggle to get by on a daily basis, opening a gift that holds a brand-new pair of socks or a football can mean everything.<\/p>\n

Santa\u2019s Helpers strives to give back to people and help those who are less fortunate. Their mission started 16 years ago when a group of St. Brendan alumni began looking for ways to help families in need. \u201cOne of the great things about going into Catholic school is that a social responsibility to give back to people is drilled into you,\u201d says Angie D. Medina, director of culture and patient experience at one of the largest hospitals in town and one of the organizers of Santa\u2019s Helpers. \u201cWhen you go to college, that feeling diminishes, but we fought it, because we still wanted to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click Here to Donate<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n

Once they had their mission in sight, the alumni turned to the church to see how they could reach out to the families they wanted to help. \u201cWe told them that we\u2019d like to help children and families who were less fortunate and asked if there was anything that we could do. The church then gave us the contact information of two families, and we started working right away,\u201d Angie explains. So the group of volunteers, after learning what they could about these families, began visiting their homes. However, they could see a small drawback.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started happening was that we were outnumbering the people in the family, and it felt like we were invading their homes,\u201d Angie says. \u201cWe had more help than those who needed help. We would come with clothes and toys, and things would become pretty cramped. We wanted to start small, which we did, but we seemed to be growing faster than we could keep up with.\u201d As a greater number of people began volunteering and there were more and more families to help, \u201cIt became more of a caravan, going from house to house with a large group of people,\u201d Angie describes.<\/p>\n

Although they were helping people, providing personalized gifts to brighten the spirits of these families, there was one thing they couldn\u2019t shake. \u201cIt still felt like these families were almost embarrassed for us to walk into their homes. That\u2019s when we decided to rent a spot in a park and pay for everything that has to do with a picnic \u2014 park rental, music, entertainment, and Santa visits. We thought that if these families came to us instead of us going from house to house, we\u2019d make it a much more enjoyable time for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

One aspect of Santa\u2019s Helpers that might be odd to a lot of people is that it isn\u2019t a nonprofit. \u201cIt\u2019s something I get asked all the time,\u201d Angie says. \u201cIf it was a nonprofit, the number of donations would be so much bigger and would require a board; it would become a whole other element. Santa\u2019s Helpers\u2019 intent is to help those who aren\u2019t being helped by other organizations.\u201d The difference is that Santa\u2019s Helpers doesn\u2019t revolve around generic gifts. All their efforts are poured into giving the family something that they need or specifically ask for. As Angie explains, \u201cThis is a very personal experience for them. We don\u2019t want to focus on giving girls \u2018girl toys\u2019 or boys \u2018boy toys.\u2019 When I was growing up, I wanted to pick out the gifts I would receive from Santa. These children and their parents deserve the same amount of care and attention with each of their gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have been in this program for a few years now, and the experience has genuinely affected me. Melissa first introduced me to Santa\u2019s Helpers and their goal. I was more than willing to do my fair share to help these people, but experiencing it was on a whole other level. When you see the difference you\u2019re making for the families involved, it\u2019s more than moving. All I had to do was go to their event once, and I completely understood how important and amazing Santa\u2019s Helpers truly is.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve watched Santa\u2019s Helpers grow throughout the few years I\u2019ve been with them. It\u2019s still a fairly small organization, but there are always many individuals who are there to help in any way possible. They\u2019re a very tight knit community. Melissa and I have had both jobs within the program; sometimes, we help\u00a0 rebuild people\u2019s lives, and other times, we do our best to bring the Christmas experience to children in need. It all goes back to the main focus of this program \u2014 to make Christmas special for each family by personalizing the individual gifts.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, we sponsored a family who had recently arrived from Venezuela. The mother and father were attorneys from that country, and the father had been a professor of law at some point in his life. They hadn\u2019t been here very long but had come to America to try and make a better life for themselves and their family. The father was driving Uber and Lyft, which was not enough to make ends meet but was barely sufficient to make it to the next day.<\/p>\n

Given my work and experience as a teacher, to meet someone in a situation where they\u2019ve had all the education in the world and to see that they are no different than me shook me to my core. This man and woman were bright \u2014 brighter than me. By talking with each other, we bonded over common ground, both professionally and through our backgrounds. I remember I got into the car with Melissa and asked her, \u201cWhat do you think tomorrow would be like if we were suddenly in France?\u201d No one would care if I was walking around with a Bar card in my pocket. No one would care that I went to an American college or that I have an American degree. This realization put the family\u2019s struggle into perspective.<\/p>\n

The day arrived when we gave the Venezuelan family their gifts, including plenty of toys for their kids and gasoline gift cards for the father. We sat down with their family and handed the gifts out to each of them. Words can\u2019t really express how touching the exchange was. When you see a kid\u2019s face light up as you hand them a gift and their parents are in tears because their son or daughter got a soccer ball or brand-new shoes, it leaves you in tears \u2014 or you\u2019re doing a lot of work to hold them back. It\u2019s a really powerful experience.<\/p>\n

There are few things that bring me as much joy as when I\u2019m helping these families each year. Santa\u2019s Helpers is an exceptional organization, and I want to do as much as I can for them, even when it\u2019s not the holidays. Going forward, Izquierdo Law Firm will pledge to make donations to Santa\u2019s Helpers throughout the year. Creating these special moments for these families is important, and I want to do anything that I can to help.\u00a0 I recognize how blessed I am to do what I do, and if I can share some of that success and help others in our community then, count me in!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in contributing to Santa\u2019s Helpers and making a difference in local lives, there are a few things you can do. Go to the following\u00a0PayPal link<\/a>\u00a0to make a money donation. Or if you want to send a gift card instead, you can coordinate with our office, and we\u2019ll get them over to Angie. If you\u2019d like to be more personally involved and sponsor a family, you can get in touch with us and we\u2019ll connect you with Angie at Santa\u2019s Helpers, who will take you through the next steps in getting to know a family and figuring out what it takes to bring Christmas to them this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a while now, my wife, Melissa, and I have been involved with an organization called Santa\u2019s Helpers. I have never experienced such a driven group of people who aim to brighten the world for families each year. Many people take Christmas and what it means to receive gifts for granted. For families who struggle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7315","library_post","type-library_post","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSanta\u2019s Helpers: A Moving Experience and a Worthwhile Cause - Izquierdo Law Firm, P.A.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.izlegal.com\/es\/library\/santas-helpers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Santa\u2019s Helpers: A Moving Experience and a Worthwhile Cause - Izquierdo Law Firm, P.A.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a while now, my wife, Melissa, and I have been involved with an organization called Santa\u2019s Helpers. 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