With Santa Claus, the Grinch and Buddy the Elf waiting in the wings, more than 250 families made the most of their trip to Blue Santa Saturday at the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.
The Dec. 21 pickup was the culmination of months of organization — gathering names, Christmas wishes and gifts to match the lists — as families drove through the sheriff’s office drive and parking lot, receiving bags of gifts donated by generous Boerne residents and businesses.
Kevin Klaerner — a sheriff’s department lieutenant but “Chief Elf” when Blue Santa time rolls around — said this 32nd year of gift-giving grew out of the KCSO’s original “Brown Santa,” matching their uniform color.
“As usual, Saturday was phenomenal,” Klaerner said. “We had over 100 volunteers putting in over 500 volunteer hours to make this happen.”
Bu that blossomed into Blue Santa when the Boerne and Fair Oaks Ranch police departments expressed a desire to merge their efforts with the KCSO’s drive.
Hundreds of volunteers arrived before 4 p.m. Saturday to take their appointed positions along the long, well-decorated drive prior to the planned 6 p.m. arrival of family vehicles.
The sheriff’s office teams up with Boerne ISD for names of families that might benefit from the Christmas drive, as well as working with Helen’s Table out of Comfort, for a similar name supply.
Klaerner noted an indirect benefit of the drive — families whose dollars are already stretched to the limit, or maxxed out, do not have to worry about spending money on Christmas gifts. With the distribution of these gifts, those funds can be spent on necessities such as groceries, bills, medication, rent, insurance, whatever issues need to be met.
The bulk of presents begin to arrive in the days after Thanksgiving. They are put in storage and brought out once the Blue Santa organizers have names of children, and corresponding Christmas wish lists, to type up.
For weeks, volunteers help bag the family gifts by walking among a dozen tables packed with toys, Barbies, basketballs, train sets, Legos, and games, matching wish lists to the proper age of the recipient.
Klaerner said Blue Santa grows a little each year, reaching the 250 family mark this holiday season.
“This is the largest community outreach project we do,” he said. “We can attribute that to a multitude of different things. I think a lot of it can be attributed to our community growing so fast.
“But no matter how but the need is, this amazing community steps up and meets that need,” he said. “The toy donations are still coming in, believe it or not.”
Those will be stored in climate-controlled storage and give Blue Santa a jump on toy collections for next year.
But making the dream come true was Saturday’s mission, and all went well.
Once a car pulls up, a sticker is placed on the vehicle that coincides with the pre-stuffed bags for each family’s children, as drivers make their way around the sheriff’s office parking and entry lane.
Additional gift cards and treats were handed out by community supporters, including pizzas, candy canes, and stuffed stockings. Visits by The Grinch, Santa and Mrs. Claus, Buddy the Elf and more awaited the visitors.
“There’s so much to see, they are inundated with so much love,” Klaerner said. “Every time they turn around, someone’s handing them something else through their window.
“It’s just neat to think of how much love is bestowed upon each family by the members of this community,” he added.
Helping make the Blue Santa distribution night happen are supporters such as the Cavender Cares Auto Group, Elite Lighting and Design, Black Rifle Coffee Co., Boerne ISD and the GVTC Foundation, among dozens of others.
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