Slipstream - February 2017

Santa Boots: Maverick Region’s Work with the Boot Campaign
By Boot Campaign Staff
Photo courtesy of the Boot Campaign
or more than half a
F
century the Maverick
Region of the Porsche
Club of America has
been driving friendships and
spreading good will to the Dallas/
Fort Worth Metroplex. During the
2016 holiday season that effort was
expanded to 60 new families when
the Maverick’s joined military nonprofit
Boot Campaign as a sponsor
in its heralded Santa Boots outreach
program.
Providing Christmas gifts is often
a challenge for service families
with financial difficulties, and Boot
Campaign developed the Santa
Boots program to join with other
patriots to relieve some of that holiday
stress while showing continued
support from our grateful nation.
Each year, veteran and active
duty families are nominated by the
Boot Campaign network to receive
Santa Boots gift packages. Items
are wrapped and tagged by Boot
Campaign Elves, noting the gifts’
donors on the tag, and placed in
personalized family boxes with a
heartfelt note of gratitude from
Boot Campaign. There are 20 to
30 amazing gifts per family box, including
multiple WOW-type gifts to
add to the excitement, and they are
Boot Campaign family box
delivered as a SURPRISE just days
before Christmas.
Santa Boots gifts are collected
from patriotic families, businesses
and organization from across the
country, like PCA’s Maverick Region,
which generously sponsored
funds to purchase special Cinemark
Movie bundles to bless 60 recipient
families.
The Mavericks’ donation was
customized to each box based on
family size, so the entire family
could have a free night out at the
movies that included food concessions
for each family member.
“The Maverick Region of PCA
was excited about the opportunity
to play a role in financially supporting
the Boot Campaign’s Santa
Boots program during Christmas
2016,” reflects Richard Solomon,
the Region Treasurer. “Many of our
members are veterans, so we were
especially proud of what this program
did to touch the lives of our
American heroes.”
Boot Campaign’s annual Santa
Boots outreach campaign was developed
in 2015 by the five founding
“Boot Girls” of Boot Campaign
as a holiday program that the military
non-profit charity’s volunteers
and sponsors could get actively involved
with.
“Santa Boots is such a terrific way
of connecting civilian Americans
to the brave men and women who
served, and is our small way of making
sure they feel appreciated for
their service and sacrifice at a time
of year when many feel stretched
financially,” says Sherri Reuland,
Boot Campaign Board Member
and one of the Boot Campaign’s
five founding Boot Girls.
“We are so thankful to have
dedicated and generous program
partners like Maverick Region, who
have taken a leap of faith with us
in Santa Boots to spread holiday
cheer to those deserving families in
the Dallas-Ft. Worth area,” adds Reuland.
“The Santa Boots program
does as much for the heart of those
who participate in preparing these
family gift boxes as it does for those
who receive them.”
Big smiles not only come to the
recipients but also to Boot Campaign
Elves, who wrap and customize
the family gift boxes based on
a family profile with “just the right
touch.” The Elves then deliver the
“surprise” personally to Santa Boots
families for a hard-to-match experience
of the season.
“Santa Boots is about more than
Christmas gifts or patriotism to
me,” says Pamela Hughes, a Boot
Campaign Elf. “Santa Boots lets
me bring love and hope to families
during a time that may be difficult.
When they receive a box, you can
see that it’s like they are overwhelmed
with a sense of hope and
knowing that people care more
than they knew.”
Adds Sgt. First Class Nurse (Ret.)
Cassandra Cantin, U.S. Army, a
Boot Campaign Hero Ambassador
and Elf: “This experience has truly
changed my life as well as the lives of
so many veterans and their families.
It’s one thing to hear someone say
‘thank you for your service,’ but it’s
a whole different ball game when
someone says it and then shows
up with this big box of thanks. It
shows that not only do you matter
for showing what you are willing to
sacrifice, but your family matters
and we are thinking about you all.”
“We are thrilled and honored to
have the Boot Campaign as one of
only two charities we support
through our club activities,” concludes
Solomon. “We look forward
to future events we can partner
with the Boot Campaign to support
our military veterans and active
duty service men and women.”
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