It Takes a Village

Operation Santa Represents 30 Years of Gulfport Giving

By Abby Baker

Francine Whitten has long retired from her post on the Gulfport Police Department dispatch, but she continues to herd the flow of toys and gifts that Operation Santa provides to Gulfport families each holiday season.

For more than three decades the GPD has put out a call for donations, and the community has answered.

“We’ve gotten more toys than ever this year,” Whitten told The Gabber. “We couldn’t do it without everyone here and everyone out there.”

Individuals with boxed toys and organizations with truck loads of gifts – such as the Blueberry Patch the Gulfport Fire Department – have shown up to fill black garbage bags of goods that to 70 families and more than 200 kids.

In the past, officers and volunteers wrapped the goods in holiday paper and bows but that stopped after it was clear that parents wanted to choose what they were delivering to their children.

Good Karma

Gulfport’s local party spot and artist retreat, The Blueberry Patch, sets aside funds every year for Operation Santa deliveries specifically, says Patch board member Bob Feckner.

And when the Blueberry Patch Santa delivers, he brings harmonicas and paint.

“We set aside $500 this year to buy art supplies, musical instruments, books,” Feckner said. “You never know what’s going to spark creativity in someone, especially a kid.”

A trumpet man himself, Feckner hopes that the kazoos and recorders from the Blueberry Patch will provide an outlet for kids in need.

“Sing off key, it doesn’t matter,” he tells The Gabber. “You don’t have to be great at an art form to enjoy doing it. If a kid grows up to be a musician, sure, but it’s the idea of creating that’s important.”

In contrast, the residents of Beachway Park, a mobile home neighborhood in Gulfport come together individually to provide an overflow of freshly purchased toys and stuffed animals.

Beachway Park Vice President David Lellig brings a trunkload of donations to the police station. “Every year it gets a little bigger.”

David Lellig, Vice President at Beachway, is the designated toy delivery man, and he’s impressed with the turnout this year. ` “We have 155 homes and so many people that go out of their way to help with cash and toys,” he says, holding a teddy bear. “It’s our way of saying thank you to the Gulfport Police Department.”

For now, the presents are locked away in the former Gulfport jail, awaiting homes, and families stop by on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas [Dec. 20-21] to sort through the treasures.

For Whitten, that’s the moment that makes it all worth it.

Operation Santa is Gulfport Police Department’s longstanding donation program that gifts presents to families in need.

“There was one man that came back and brought me flowers,” Whitten said. “It was a rough year for him … and to see people that are so appreciative, it’s making me emotional even right now.”