February 2023
After a two-year hiatus, Harbor Linx cheerfully returned to the Oakland Salvation Army Garden Street Center in December to spread some Holiday cheer. Your jovial HLBS President dressed up as Santa and the HLBS, M&H, and CF team members banded together to provide gifts, treats, crafts and games for the children. Of course the highlight for the children is receiving a gift from St Nicolas.
This tradition was started by our Marketing Manager, Amanda Chaudhary, in 2017. Because of Covid,
we couldn’t bring this event to the children in 2020 and 2021, but we are thankful to be able to do this
once again in 2022. Amanda talked me into dressing up in a Santa suit since I already have the “mid-
section” for the role. One year a kid came up to me, poked me in the stomach, and said, “Santa, that’s
real!” I answered, “Of course it is.” He then proceeded to comment, “Santa, you are fat!” and ran off to
play games and crafts. Needless to say, he got a big lump of coal instead of a present.
It’s always a great time and very rewarding to do this for the children at the shelter. We run the Salvation
Army Red Kettle fundraiser in all the offices during this time. Employees donated money and their safety
bucks raising $6,679.24. We always buy gifts that are approved by their teachers and educational. We
then have a massive wrapping party where we put together goodie bags and wrap over 40 presents. We
had up to 90 presents in the past. It all depends on how many families are there. The best part is always
seeing the smile on the kids faces when they walk into the room and see Santa sitting there with a pile
of presents. One group of children even sang Christmas carols to Santa. My commitment to this started
back in February. I decided I wanted Santa to have a real beard this year. It took me 9 months to grow
out my beard. I learned about trimming, and shaping and that there are a lot of beard products out there.
Unfortunately, the Mrs. wasn’t enamored with the beard and right after the event, I trimmed it shorter to where it was in March 2022. I would like to extend a special thanks to all those that helped us wrap gifts and make this a special day for the kids at the Salvation Army.
The children sang “Jingle Bells” to us as a thank you. View the video here.