Upon returning to my office after lunch on Thursday, I encountered what can only be called a Christmas miracle.

Waiting for me at the front desk was an envelope from the Cambria County district attorney’s office. The envelope was filled with money – more than $300 – to be donated to this newspaper’s Santa Fund, which provides gifts for local children at Christmas.

I’ve written this numerous times, but the people of this area never cease to amaze me.

Whether it’s the Santa Fund, which The Tribune-Democrat is running for the third year, or any of the region’s many other worthwhile projects, people across the Cambria-Somerset region give selflessly.

This year’s Santa Fund may reach $20,000, and certainly will surpass our 2008 total of $15,000. In a down economy, that is truly miraculous.

For those of you who gave – either personally or through a group – can assure you that the hundreds of children whose names we’ve received will be blessed by your generosity.

At the Cambria DA’s office, giving has become an annual tradition.

“Years ago, we used to buy each other gifts for Christmas,” said Karen Fugini, chief of detectives with the DA’s office. “But we thought it would be better to do something for someone else.”

In 2006, the office eschewed Christmas gifts and instead collected donations for an individual who had health problems.

The following year, the workers in the office wanted to keep helping others, Fugini said, so they collected money for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

“People donate whatever they can,” she said. “There’s no set amount.”

Last year, their spirit reached out to a family who had lost its home in a fire.

“It was such a nice feeling that we decided to do it every year,” Fugini said.

The donations get full support of District Attorney Patrick Kiniry – who will move up to the county judicial bench in 2010 – and his successor, current Assistant DA Kelly Callihan.

The gift from the DA’s office was among numerous donations to the Santa Fund that rolled in during the past week, as our Dec. 4 deadline approached. We’ll get a few more before Dec. 25.

And every penny goes to gifts for kids in local communities.

“We’ve never done one for a charity that directly involves children,” Fugini said. “We had been seeing the mentions in the paper and thought this would be a good one this year.

"We’re pleased that we could help.”

Children, she said, hold a special place in the hearts of those who work in law enforcement and the halls of justice.

“My kids are grown and gone,” Fugini said. “But they never had to worry about what Santa Claus might bring them at Christmas, or whether or not they would have something to eat.

“Working in the DA’s office, you see so many children suffering as the fallout from all sorts of things,” she added.

“Sometimes, they’re in difficult circumstances that they have no control over. It really tugs at your heart when you think of what they go through. And then when you think about the smiling faces on Christmas morning, or those children being surprised because someone got them something for Christmas, that’s a nice feeling.”

Indeed, that’s what the Santa Fund is all about.

Later Thursday afternoon, I walked that envelope from the DA’s office staff, along with some checks that had arrived in that day’s mail, down Locust Street to the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies offices.

That’s where fiscal assistant Barb Plummer was busy entering donations to the Santa Fund, preparing to make another deposit into the account.

In the coming weeks, gifts will be purchased at Boscov’s department store and volunteers will transport them downtown to the Girl Scouts building, where they will be tagged for delivery or pickup by families on our list.

As I returned to The Tribune-Democrat building, I encountered Christmas carols ringing down from speakers in nearby Central Park.

I had been hearing the seasonal music for a couple of weeks, but on this day it seemed to be playing a little bit louder.

Before I knew it, I was humming along.



Chip Minemyer is the editor of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5091.