In letters to Globe Santa, the focus is more often the struggles a family has endured than the gifts desired.
One Roxbury mother said she escaped domestic violence only to end up living in a series of shelters with her 1-year-old son. Four years later, she attends community college and shares a two-bedroom apartment with her son, she said, but cannot afford Christmas gifts without falling behind on bills.
A Lowell grandmother described giving up her job to care for her 4-year-old granddaughter, with the lost income forcing her to later file for bankruptcy and face a lien on her home.
To ensure that Christmas comes to the homes of these families this year, the Boston Globe is following a longstanding Thanksgiving tradition, launching the 2014 Boston Globe Santa Fund drive to finance gifts for thousands of children in 190 Eastern Massachusetts cities and towns.
This marks the 59th year Globe Santa has brought joy to children of families in need. In recent years, the slow economic recovery has left countless people caught in a prolonged battle to provide essentials for their family, let alone buy gifts for the children.
Linda Pizzuti Henry, the Globe’s managing director, said she and her husband, Globe owner John W. Henry, are “honored to continue the Globe Santa tradition, and we are committed to working with the team at the Globe to provide educational toys, warm winter gear, school supplies, and books to deserving children.
“The generosity of our donors and supporters to this annual holiday gift-giving program has been overwhelming, and together, we are proud to help deliver joy to children and their families in our community,” Pizzuti Henry said in an e-mail.
Last Christmas, the Globe provided gifts for 45,633 children in 25,927 families. In all, Globe Santa has brought Christmas to 2,801,536 children in 1,127,515 families, with each letter sent by a family asking for help approved by a designated charity before gifts are sent out.
Preparations for Globe Santa begin many months before Christmas each year, so Santa staff can get better prices from suppliers for the gifts distributed in the weeks just before Christmas.
As fall unfolds, another group of Santa staffers starts working with the many companies, organizations, businesses, sports teams, and everyday citizens who sponsor Globe Santa fund-raising events.
Once the gifts are sorted and prepared for mailing, Globe truck drivers bring them to post offices for delivery.
Santa’s buyers will use money raised this holiday season to buy gifts for Christmas 2015.
Each day from now until Christmas, the Globe will publish samples of the hundreds of letters sent by parents and other family members seeking Globe Santa’s help.
On Dec. 7, the Globe will begin publishing a daily listing of contributors, continuing into early in the new year.
The Globe will also publish advertisements promoting the fund-raising events sponsored by organizations and businesses, such as the 10th annual No Rest for the Wicked Funny, a 24-hour-long comedy and music show at Improv Asylum in Boston’s North End on Dec. 5 and 6.
Organizers say the show has built a community of supporters and entertainers, all volunteers.
Shalyn Ward, coordinator for the event, said she still has dreams about a donation from a couple of years ago.
“This sweet North End lady walks down, hands our box office manager a check, and then scurries up the stairs,” she said. Ward glanced at the check and was impressed with what she thought was a $500 gift. Then she looked closer, and her face went pale.
“I realized it was a $5,000 check,” she said. “I tried to chase her up the stairs to thank her, and she was gone. Like a ghost. A giving ghost. She was gone.”
Some of those who give are former Globe Santa recipients.
Lenny Clarke, a Cambridge-born comedian, said when he was about 10, his sister “wrote a beautiful letter to Globe Santa” without telling their father, who was strapped for cash after a temporary layoff from his job as a linotype operator at the Boston Herald.
“When he came down Christmas morning and saw all the toys, [he said] ‘Oh my God, where did all these toys come from?’ ” Clarke, 61, recalled. “My sister goes, ‘The Globe Santa.’ He goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? I work for the Herald!’
“I thought he was going to have a heart attack,” Clarke said. “Once he got over it, and my mother calmed him down . . . we had the greatest Christmas we ever had, thanks to Globe Santa.”
Clarke said he has been a Globe Santa supporter for about 15 years and will perform again this year at the Globe Santa Comedy Night at Giggles Comedy Club in Saugus on Dec. 10. For him, it’s about making sure other children have a holiday like the one he remembers.