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Late, the night before Christmas Eve, we got a message from a strange voice asking about Santa Pal. She said that one of her children did not receive her gifts. I was suspicious, but Courtney called and left a message. Early Christmas Eve, the lady called back. Courtney asked if she meant the PDI Christmas for Families (CFF) program.

I chided Courtney for suggesting that we might be involved, because I could not imagine how she got our number. While we had donated, purchased, and delivered gifts for another CFF family, I knew we had not given out our number. The lady had left her childrens' names in her original message, so I, after some urging from Courtney, cross referenced them with the list that was at work (I can connect from home).

As it turns out, their names were on the list, so I tried to call the people that had signed up to shop. There was no answer. Then I called the delivery man, Jerry Kurtin. His wife asked if she could take a message, but when I mentioned CFF, she said that she could run and get him: he was very busy. Jerry remembered the family and offered to go to PDI and look for the gifts. Then, he said that if they weren't there, he would go to Wal-mart (remember it was Christmas Eve about 2:00) and purchase some gifts. I reluctantly offered my help, but in truth, I wanted nothing more than to get off the phone and back to whatever I was doing before this whole thing came up.

Soon enough, this is just what I did. I never heard back from Jerry. He took care of it. The next week at work, I heard that he had to go to Wal-mart and buy gifts. He bought wrapping paper, scissors and tape as well. He took it all to the mother and said, "Here you go. I am sorry, but I need to leave to go to church with my family."

What a model for Christian charity! I wish I was.