Chris Scott has known of the Salvation Army’s annual Angel Tree toy drive for years, ever since he worked at Best Buy, which would help donate toys.
But last year, the now five-year apprentice electrician made his first donation to the program as a father, which changed his perspective on the program.
“We were looking at the list almost tearing up, thinking, ‘Wow, there’s kids our child’s age that don’t have presents. It’s going to be Christmastime and there’s nothing under the tree for them,'” he said. “It really, really hit home, you know, looking at our child and thinking if things had gone differently for us how we could be in the same boat.”
Scott was excited to donate, but he also had an idea that he stored away for the next year.
“I thought, ‘I should take this to the union and see if the union would want to do something about it,'” Scott said.
The union Scott is a member of is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 413, and is completing his fifth year as an apprentice as an employee at Imperial Electric. He said that he envisioned telling his union brothers because he was confident he could get a good number involved.
After he approached them, the “higher ups” in the union said they would engage if they didn’t have to do the work, Scott explained. That’s why Scott wanted the drive to be initially spearheaded by the union’s apprentices.
“So I basically created a list of every apprentice that we had, which is 50 apprentices, and I went into each classroom, which took me two nights to do, and I just said, ‘Hey guys, this is what the Angel Tree project is about, and I want to compile as much money as we can and get some gifts purchased for these kids,'” he explained.
The immediate response exceeded his expectations.
In the first two nights of collecting funds, the apprentices pitched in $1,200, Scott said. Then, an email was put out to all IBEW 413 members, which includes all the union members in Santa Barbara County. Scott also got some immediate help from Imperial Electric President Mike Breyman, also a union member, who wanted to pitch in.
“I had asked him when I saw him, ‘Is it alright if I borrow the big flatbed truck to deliver all the presents,'” Scott said. “And he said, “Oh yeah, absolutely, and who do I make the check out to?'”
After a contribution of $2,500 from Breyman and more from journeymen union members, Scott reported his numbers to IBEW 413 and another union that got involved, the Central Coast chapter of the Electrical Contractors Association.
The group was “just floored” by the fast-paced fundraising, he said, and they immediately vowed to match the funds. The fundraising “in a couple hours went from like $1,200 … all the way past $8,000,” Scott said.
“The apprentices rallied together to collect this good chunk of money, and that allowed all the leadership and all the other higher ups almost kind of be forced to make a stand,” he said. “The apprentices make less than a lot of these other people do, and this is how much we put up.”
Scott also leaned on his experience working for Best Buy years ago to help maximize the money spent for the most toys possible–including several big items like bicycles, which Scott and other apprentices assembled.
He said the staff at Best Buy helped stretch dollars for more donations for more local kids, using resources like the online store to its potential.
“They basically helped me piece together a whole list of all the stuff they could get in, they could get better pricing on,” he said. “While I was asleep on Black Friday, at 2 o’clock in the morning, I’ve seen the receipts–they have employees who were trying to punch these transactions through, trying to get me a better deal.”
The flatbed truck his boss promised was brimming on Dec. 6 when Scott, some union brothers, Best Buy staff, and reps for the Salvation Army transferred the numerous gifts to the Salvation Army’s truck.
The toys are all bound for local families in need during the holidays, Scott said, the payoff that he envisioned last year.
“It was a huge community thing,” he said. “Christmas really should be about kids and families coming together, and I personally really wanted to make sure that we could impact as many families, give as many different kids the opportunity to have a gift to open up on Christmas.”
Managing Editor Joe Payne wrote this week’s Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 13-20, 2018.
