Law Firm Aims to Bring Holiday Magic to 8,000 Kids

Disclaimer: Here at Hauppauge Patch, we know Santa Claus exists. But be warned, as this article mentions, there are skeptical disbelievers out there.

This holiday season, hundreds of girls and boys across Long Island are eagerly waiting for Santa Claus to a come. Sometimes he needs a bit of assistance.

Hauppauge attorney Charles Russo and his assistant Elyse Craft are facing the daunting challenge of making sure Santa makes his way to 8,000 children who are homeless, in foster care, or living out of shelters this year. While the task is filled with challenges that keep growing, Holiday Magic has yet to disappoint a child in 27 years.

Craft said the nonprofit still needs help this year, having received 60 last-minute letters to Santa from William Floyd school district's homeless student program on Tuesday. 

Holiday Magic is a non-profit organization that answers "Letters to Santa" and holiday wish lists of children in Suffolk and Nassau county that operates out of the law offices of on Townline Road and the "North Pole." It was started by Russo after one of his own sons lost faith in Santa.

"My oldest son, who lived in the same room as the younger guy, told him there was no Santa Claus," the attorney said. "What I did was to show and explain to them what Christmas and Santa Claus is really about, and the spirit."

Russo said his firm represents several homeless shelters in Suffolk County. So that year, he asked roughly 26 kids living in one of the shelters to write a letter to Santa. Those wish lists were then assigned to his Russo's sons, along with their friends who volunteered help, to fulfill the lists and deliver toys to the homeless shelter by Christmas.

"I dressed up as Santa, the kids all dressed up as elves and the rest is where the magic came from. The kids I had brought wouldn't leave, they wanted to stay at the shelter and play," Russo said.

This method is still how Holiday Magic operates today, although the number of children it helps has grown. Holiday Magic delivered toys to 7,300 in 2010 with the goal of fulfilling holiday dreams for 8,000 this year.

"We have the largest homeless population we've ever had and we have the worst economy we've ever had," the attorney said.

Russo estimated nearly 2,000 Suffolk residents are being housed by 62 shelters and 16 motels. He cautioned "those are just the ones we know about."

By serving more children, Holiday Magic has an increased need for donations and volunteers. But what the nonprofit desperately needs is more elves, according to Craft. She said it will be easiest for the nonprofit to continue growing if residents and local businesses would volunteer to assist Santa from start to finish: taking a holiday wish list, checking it twice, shopping for the toys and then delivering them to Holiday Magic or the shelter.

"If there's a company out there like ABC, Corp. who likes this concept, but maybe isn't trusted by the shelters, we can help them do it. That's how we grow," Craft said. "We get companies and people who say I want to do this."

With a staff of just two people, Russo and Craft, they hope to take on the role of facilitator/organizers and continue to spread Holiday Magic.