Mike Wolanin | The Republic Vehicles lined up to pick up gift boxes for delivery from the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund at the new cheer fund building in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020.
Just look for the flying Santa.
There will be a floating 14-foot St. Nick flying above the headquarters of the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund, 2674 Verhulst St., to help volunteers arriving for Delivery Day activities that begin at 8 a.m. Saturday.
But since drivers should keep their eyes on the road, the 91-year-old charity will place directional signs on both Middle Road and Arnold Street, as well as an electronic flashing arrow. This will be the second year that Bartholomew County’s oldest charity that depends solely on public donations has worked out of its first permanent home on Verhulst Street on Columbus’ north side.
Upon arrival, vehicles will be guided into lines that will allow them to enter the building through open garage doors on the east side. After stopping at one of four loading zones to allow firefighters and others to place gift boxes in their vehicles, the drivers will be given a list of addresses for delivery before they exit via the west door.
Prior to 2020, volunteer drivers could briefly enjoy free doughnuts, coffee and hot chocolate as their cars and trucks were being loaded. But COVID-19 and its variants remain a significant concern, Cheer Fund co-chairman Ben Noblitt said.
”I think we are going to hold off one more year, and ask drivers and passengers to stay in their vehicle,” Noblitt said.
All volunteers will be encouraged to wear a protective mask when they approach the front door of a recipient’s home. Gift boxes will be placed outside with the receipt placed on top of the box before volunteers knock or ring the bell.
The delivery volunteer will ask for an adult to step out and sign the receipt, but keep a safe distance from all household members. After the paper is signed, the delivery volunteer will pick up the receipt and leave. It will be up to the parent or guardian to bring the box inside.
Over the past few months, Cheer Fund organizers have been hearing from vaccinated volunteers wondering why such precautions are still necessary.
“Mostly, it’s just us being safe,” Noblitt said. “For just one more year, we don’t want to take any chances.”
Although the Cheer Fund’s new headquarters is privately-owned, the public is reminded that firefighters are both city employees and public safety representatives, Noblitt said. For those reasons, all firefighters will be masked or wearing a face shield when talking face-to-face with the public in the Cheer Fund building, he said.
Nobody is expecting a repeat of last year, when fear of the coronavirus kept many regular volunteers at home. Vehicles once stretched about six blocks around the United Way building every year through 2018 when the Cheer Fund operated out of that building’s warehouse.
In contrast, the longest queue during Delivery Day last December was 20 cars. Once all the volunteer drivers were gone, there were still about 250 boxes sitting in their headquarters waiting to be delivered, firefighters said.
But once the Cheer Fund announced via social media they had a problem, members of the public ran to the rescue, Noblitt said.
“A lady pulled in with her daughter,” Noblitt recalled. “I asked them if they had come to deliver and the mother said “yeah, we saw it on Facebook, jumped out of bed and rushed here to deliver.”
How fast did they rush? Both ladies were still in their pajamas when they arrived to pick up gift boxes at 9 a.m., Noblitt said. In addition to new drivers, multiple volunteers who had already made a delivery round returned to pick up more gift boxes. All the work was completed in slightly more than 90 minutes.
While the question remains whether all the Christmas charities had adequately handle a significant increase in demand this year, Noblitt doesn’t seem worried at this point.
The value of the toys and other items in each gift box is about $150. But because the Cheer Fund buys in volume from such places as Walmart and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in Seymour, the actual amount the organization has to spend has dropped to less than $100, he said.
“We shop all year long just to avoid supply chain problems like those we’ve seen in recent months,” Noblitt said. “In addition, monetary donations have just been rolling in. That has been a huge help.”
