Flash of Christmas Spirit

A great story on the Flash Family Foundation by Neil Warner of the Herald.

2009 Flash Family Foundation

When I was a kid it never felt like the Holidays until my family started giving.

In my early years I remember mostly doing the normal 'neighbor obligation presents'. You know what these are; candy, chocolate, and maybe a plant if they were really a special neighbor and hadn't screamed at me during the year. But when I was about 10 we started a tradition that I love to this day-12 days of Christmas Santa's Elf style. This practice consisted of my brother, two sisters and I choosing a family and then for the 12 days leading up to Christmas we would deliver an anonymous gift to their home with a clever note written by my Mom. As a kid I loved the generous deviance of the whole tradition. A quick ring of the bell and we were off. Typically by about day 5 the family was in on the gig and desperately trying to catch us in the act. Do I even need to say it? We could not be caught.

These days we try to keep that vibe going with our own version. Yes I have given up the devious days-that is left for my boys to carry on if they (hopefully not) so choose.

I wrote about the Flash Family Foundation last year in a December Blog. After we finished last year most who participated felt it was one of the best parts of working with the Flash. This year was bigger and better.

Something can be said for the tough economic times we are in right now. Although we sent out the same number of applications to families, the number of requests doubled. We have chosen to work with a local Utah County School and school teachers to ensure that we really get out to families in need. Last year we were able to help 60 Utah families with food for four months, gifts for the holidays, and hygiene necessities.

We decided we would increase the number of families from 60-85 this year. Although this may seem like a minimal amount, it meant almost 30% more work. We couldn't have done it without Sponsors: PMI did a gift drive with employees, the President of Pinnacle donated a car full of gifts, Stores Online did a food drive, and even my son's school did a food drive that likely generated around $500 in food. This whole operation has really become a community effort.

One group that was like a guardian angel this year was The Santa Cause . Nate Bray and his wife DJ came out of nowhere and offered to raise money to allow us to help more families. In two weeks and with the help of many of their friends and family they not only raised over $10,000, but they were also able to get several hundred additional people to help with the shopping, wrapping and delivering. This represents over a thousand volunteered man hours. We owe them and their organization a huge debt of gratitude and I know that they were able to see firsthand how grateful the people were who they helped.

Some Quick Facts and a Story:

1. I counted over 66 shopping carts used for the night of shopping.
2. At one point I counted 97 people at our house helping to wrap all of the presents and sort all of the food for the families.
3. Stores Online, PMI, Pinnacle, and The Santa Cause will have donated over $35 thousand dollars to the organization this year.
4. The time spent by all those who helped represents over 1,700 man hours of work.


This was an amazing year. I loaded up and delivered presents to around 7 families. I was especially touched by one family. The women wrote in after our deadline and we were already set on our numbers. Fortunately I took the time to read her letter. It spoke of trouble and difficulties she and her small family were having. They have 5 kids and live in a two bedroom apartment. She said that she tries to work hard but certain mental disabilities have kept her from keeping a full time job. In her letter she talked about how she cries sometimes for the welfare of her kids because she does not know how they will afford food. After reading her touching letter we couldn't leave them out. As it happened, they ended up as one of my deliveries.

As I went into their home it was very clean; small but clean. Clearly something they took pride in. I told her kids that I was on an errand from Santa and that he had instructed me to bring some gifts. The smallest little girl quickly said "Mommy I thought Santa wasn't going to make it to our house this year". That brought tears to the Mom's eyes and to mine. We finished putting all of the presents under the small tree and as we left the handed us a card they had all signed saying 'thank you' and a coupon for a small honey baked ham. With all I could I tried to give it back but they would not accept.

Thank you to all who helped. This includes; sponsors, neighbors, The Santa Cause, family, a reporter, and even a bunch of unsuspecting school kids. It now feels like the Holidays.

Brandt Andersen

****If you have not given somewhere already hop onto the web site for the The Santa Cause and donate. Every dollar goes right back to people in need.

Home Opener

We are 1 and 1 after what was a brutal road trip. Glad to be home. Keep in mind that the travel schedule in the D League is difficult at times-this was one of those times. Up at 4am two days in a row after long games can punish.

Hope to see you at the game tonight. Last year we had two sellouts. This year we are sold out tonight. That is right 6700 seats have been sold. Doesn't mean you can't get in-we have a ticket exchange program and there are tickets that have been traded in tonight for another night.

Bakersfield is 2-0 and is feeling deep with their two assignees from the Warriors. It should be interesting to see how we match up.

See you there.

Brandt Andersen