Coordinators of the Operation Reindeer program June Sythe, an American Red Cross volunteer, and Mark Miano, a broker associate at Alain Pinel in Los Gatos, check out the donated gifts headed for 56 local families and senior citizens in time for Christmas.




Operation Reindeer brings holiday cheer

By Jean Newton

Thanks to the efforts of local Realtors and the American Red Cross, spirits are a bit brighter for a number of families and seniors who would otherwise have faced a bleak holiday season.

Through Operation Reindeer, 56 families and 19 seniors received food, clothing and gifts just in time for the holidays. Volunteers shopped for gifts, wrapped packages, and delivered the items to families in the area, including Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Willow Glen and San Martin.

This year the program was coordinated by June Sythe, a volunteer with the American Red Cross, and co-chairs Mark Miano, Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos and Sharon Butler, Union Planters Mortgage in Los Gatos, representing the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. In addition, Don Newhall, a Realtor with Village Square Realty in Los Gatos and the chairman of the West Valley Advisory Committee of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, helped spearhead the real estate industry effort. The connection between Realtors and the Red Cross goes back many years with Operation Reindeer beginning as a grassroots program.

"The program started as an offshoot of children gathering cans at local schools," said June Sythe, a 42 year resident of Redwood Estates and a former seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos. "Back then, the teachers and nurses at Fisher identified families who needed extra help at the holidays."

Today, nurses in the local schools still determine the families who need an extra boost, whether because of job layoffs, an absent spouse, medical problems or severe illness. Funds are raised in a variety of ways. The American Red Cross holds an annual bake sale every fall while the Realtors' Pumpkin Auction provides the seed money to start the Realtor funded portion of Operation Reindeer. Individual Realtors also contribute to the fund as well as individual offices from real estate, title and mortgage companies.

Children at Blossom Hill and Fisher schools in Los Gatos collected presents this year, and other community members contributed to the program too. According to Sythe, even though times have been somewhat lean this year, there has been no trouble at all in raising funds.

"Realtors make the largest contribution and are so generous," said Sythe who started working with the West Valley Advisory Committee of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross 10 years ago. "What a thrill it will be when the families open these presents."

Indeed, the Realtors have contributed in a big way, with 32 real estate, title and mortgage companies participating in the program this year. In addition to raising funds, the Realtors and affiliate members also donated their time by buying presents at discount stores, wrapping countless packages and personally delivering them to the families.

"This has been a very successful year. It's a huge undertaking, but it's a great program when you think about helping children get through a tough period in their lives," said Mark Miano, a broker associate with Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos.

Miano said the reason he embraces the program is because of the involvement of a former colleague, now a very successful Realtor, who remembered the Christmas his father died, leaving his mother and seven children on their own.

"This kind of program helped make a Christmas for his family and he never forgot that. Sometimes a little bit of charity from people outside the family can make a huge difference. Kids need to know that there are people who care and can help. This is something that can give them a boost and a hopeful outlook instead of continuing to struggle," said Miano.

In Saratoga, two Alain Pinel offices actively embraced the program with co-chairs David Rudden and Edna Eng helping to raise funds. After receiving the family members' ages, real estate agents took their shopping lists to buy specific items such as clothes for a teenager, a doll for a 4-year-old girl, and food gift certificates for a mom for a holiday dinner.

"This is a long-standing tradition that goes way back, as long as I can remember, maybe 25 years. It's hard to believe but there are people right in our community, even in Saratoga, who may be down and out due to a job loss and need a helping hand. It's a way for us to give a little something back to the community," said Harry Murray, vice president and co-manager with Carl Burnett of Alain Pinel Realtors in Saratoga.

One of the best parts about the program, from the Realtors point of view, is that both large and small real estate, title and mortgage companies can participate in the program by adopting the number of families they each can support. Every office feels as if there is a connection with the family, whether the office has hundreds of employees or only a few.

When asked how much money was raised for the program this year, Mark Miano said the figure is in the thousands of dollars but because each office raises funds independently there is no way to know the total dollar amount for sure.

"This program can't be measured in dollars, but rather in how many families we can help. Our goal is to serve as many families as possible each year and we encourage the community to get involved too. Every single penny raised goes directly to the families. This is a 100 percent volunteer driven program and a program that is so worthwhile."

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