JEFFERSON COUNTY —Santa Claus visited Raul Blanco’s family a little early this year. The kids got to shake a few gifts, but they won’t open them until Christmas morning.
“I think they figured out a couple of them,” Blanco said.
Blanco’s family was one of about 300 that is receiving gifts through the that dates to 1958 when the two groups were still part of the same entity. Nearly 900 children were given gifts as part of the project.
This year, the Operation Santa Claus board of directors — made up of both ULA and Lockheed employees — raised about $50,000 to buy gifts and deliver them to families in need around the Denver metro area.
Blanco, whose kids range in age from 7 to 21, connected with Operation Santa Claus through that works with veterans struggling to make ends meet.
“If it wasn’t for the Home Front Cares, I don’t know what I would have done — I couldn’t qualify for anything,” Blanco, an Army veteran, said. “They kept me from being homeless.”
Operation Santa Claus partnered with Home Front Cares for the first time this year. Home Front Cares nominated six families out of the 300 that Operation Santa Claus served. Home Front Cares executive director April Speake said she was excited to get involved with the program.
“People might not say Christmas gifts are an emergency service, but take away Christmas from a child and tell me that’s a good thing,” she said.
While Home Front Cares is new to the program, many of the Lockheed and ULA employees have been taking part for quite some time.
Many employees bring their families each year. When coming to help, volunteers pick out either one or two families, wrap gifts and stop by King Soopers to pick up boxes of food for each family. This year’s event took place on Dec. 17 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6705 S. Webster St., in the Columbine neighborhood.
“I took my kids because I am not in need of this and my children are spoiled and I wanted to show them that there were children who didn’t get what they wanted,” said Alicia Reid, a Lockheed Martin employee and board member for Operation Santa Claus.
United Launch Alliance mission manager Jayson Cowley is the treasurer of the Operation Santa Claus board of directors and has been volunteering for more than 30 years. He no longer goes out to deliver regularly, but he’s a big part of the fundraising that goes on during the year.
“Fundraising is difficult, and every year it gets more difficult,” he said.
Fellow Lockheed employee Mark Mancuso has been volunteering for at least a decade and always takes the families associated with the pins numbered 13 and 19. He said 13 represents his son’s baseball number and 19 is the date of his wedding anniversary.
Mancuso and his family also buy each child in both of their adopted families an extra gift before delivering them.
He added: “I look forward to this night.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or @joe_vacc
