The Santa Project
Two Billings women help bring the joy of Christmas to kids in need
Where would we be without the dreamers and the doers? Each, independent of the other, excels and succeeds. But when they meet at just the right moment, the potential exists for a meaningful — even magical — collaboration.
Such is the story of Bridget Merry, the dreamer, and Jena Huck, the doer. Together, they’ve created The Santa Project, with the ambitious goal of making sure every child in Yellowstone County experiences the joy of a visit from Santa.
Bridget married into the Merry name, which you might think somehow influenced her to take on this endeavor. However, the idea for what would become The Santa Project was sparked by an innocent interaction at her child’s school a decade ago. It happened at a holiday party, right before the students went on break.
“I was sitting at their table and I still remember the little boy,” Bridget says. “They were talking about Santa and he made the comment along the lines of, ‘Well, I’m a good boy, but Santa never comes to me.’”
Bridget initially thought maybe the little boy’s family didn’t celebrate Christmas because of religious beliefs. But when she saw his teacher putting meals for the weekend in his backpack, she realized it was likely because they didn’t have the means to celebrate.
“I’ve reflected on that a lot because I have kids who have never not had Santa,” Bridget says. To see this little boy feel he deserved Santa but didn’t get the chance, and “knowing the kids would come back after Christmas and talk about what Santa brought them, it kind of broke my heart.”
Two Christmases ago, Bridget, who is an Operations Manager for Intermountain Health Patient Experience, was visiting with her friend Jena, a Nurse Director of Inpatient Care at St. Vincent Regional Hospital. Jena was heavily involved with Friendship House of Christian Service in Billings and the Montana Rescue Mission. Bridget answered Jena’s call for gifts for two girls who were new at the mission just before Christmas. In addition to presents, Bridget decided to put together Christmas stockings for the girls.
It was then that Bridget shared with Jena the story of the boy at her son’s school a decade earlier, and her desire over the years, to make a difference for kids like him at Christmas.
“I’m a planner, a thinker, let’s-create-a-spreadsheet type of person,” Bridget says. “Jena is just a doer and she said ‘Well, let’s do it,’” remembers Bridget.
And that is how dreams get done and how The Santa Project came to be.
Last year, thanks to donations from friends, family and their employer, The Santa Project jingled itself into existence. The goal was to deliver Christmas stockings stuffed full of fun and practical items to kids across the county.
“We tried to do some hygiene items, like socks, body wash, shampoo,” recalls Jena. “We also wanted to put a book in every single one and that was really fun.”
Of the many holiday giving campaigns currently active, Bridget and Jena couldn’t find any that involved stockings from Santa.
“I think really it’s the Santa piece,” Jena says. “Santa is known for bringing stockings and we hadn’t heard of anything like that in the community.”
The idea of giving to others during the holidays is something very familiar to Jena. “As a family, we had always done the shoe boxes,” she recalls. “I remember as a little girl, getting excited to go shop for those and then sending them overseas.”
As an adult, Jena’s volunteer work with Friendship House and the Rescue Mission was equally fulfilling and helped her see the real and present need for help in her own community. While some kids asked Santa for big-ticket items, Jena saw kids who were so thankful for far less.
“These kids are asking for a coat that fits and shoes that don’t have holes in them,” Jena says. “They only wanted items they absolutely needed. That broke my heart. These are core items they need for survival, not an exciting toy for Christmas.”
As the pair worked on the initial ground rules for The Santa Project and who would receive the stockings, they took into consideration which kids were most in need — kids like the ones Jena encountered through her volunteer work at the Friendship House. Jena says there are roughly 1,000 students in Billings Public Schools who are classified as homeless. Some of those students end up in community homes or shelters.
“You hear about poverty, but just seeing these kids and how happy they were to play games,” Jena says. “Seeing the kids throughout the system, if they get placed in different households, how that affects their school year. That’s where it sparked our desire to help that population.”
The two women decided to focus on kids between the ages of three and 12, with some exceptions.
“If those kids have siblings, we would look to support the sibling as well,” Bridget says.
They purchased most of the stockings, but a couple of volunteers made homemade ones. All were stored and then lovingly packed at Bridget’s house. Identifying the children who would receive the stockings was made possible through lists provided by the Rescue Mission, Friendship House and a network of friends and other sources.
Bridget and Jena blew past their goal of 180 stockings last year, ultimately distributing 234. This year, the goal is to include a “wow” item in each stocking and serve as many kids as possible.
For the dreamer and the doer, seeing The Santa Project in action is everything. The effort, during an already hectic time of year, pales in comparison to the contentment they feel knowing they’ve brought the warmth of the season to kids — like the little boy who unknowingly inspired The Santa Project — who would otherwise be forgotten at Christmas.
“It’s knowing that we make it a point to get Santa to kids at a place like the Rescue Mission who are literally showing up a couple days before Christmas,” Bridget says. “They have nothing. The fact that we make sure, one way or the other, we get them covered really brings it home to me.”
“It’s that deeper meaning of just love, compassion, humanity, people are happier at Christmastime,” adds Jena. “I’m sure it’s crushing for the parents who can’t provide some of that, but I’m sure it brings them joy to see their kids’ faces light up. And we have a piece in that.”
