Our History
It began in the heart of Marine mom Patti Smith. Her son was deployed to Iraq serving his first tour of duty the Christmas of 2005. She couldn’t fathom the thought of receiving gifts while her son was in a war zone so approached her husband with an idea. “We are so blessed and don’t need anything. Let’s make this Christmas about giving to our son’s platoon instead of ourselves” she said to him.
He readily agreed, so when asked the usual holiday question, “What do you want for Christmas?” she would respond by asking for donations for others. It became her goal to send presents to their son’s platoon consisting of 40 young men. Acquiring enough items and money for shipping seemed the biggest mountain she’d ever faced and often lost sleep over “what if enough doesn’t come in?“ So she prayed. Consumed with accomplishing this goal, she asked everyone and told them to ask everyone for items and money. Operation Santa was born and was run out of their garage that first year.   Word spread and others quickly got on board. At mission’s end, enough for 200 troops came in--five times the amount asked for!! Since then, Central Illinois Proud Families of Marines has undertaken Operation Santa as its annual project.   Phenomenal growth has taken place with over 10,000 Christmas stockings being sent in 2006 and in 2007, over 23,000. CIPFM and many, many volunteers from the region have made this the largest Christmas drive for the troops in the Midwest/USA.   We invite you to join us for this year’s goal of 30,000 stockings. These will be shipped to all branches of our military and combat support hospitals. Those involved in previous years have commented repeatedly how rewarding this has been to them on a personal level. And on a national level we help to keep America strong!   The success of this mission is attributed to God who has taken this far beyond what any of us thought or imagined by bringing so many fine individuals to conduct a project of this magnitude.   “Truly it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 Operation Santa is sponsored by Central ILL Proud Families of Marines www.cipfm.us and has no paid staff or leased space, so administrative costs for this project are extremely low.  If your business would benefit from a tax-deductible donation, please contact us.  We will work with you to plan your level of sponsorship. The name "Operation Santa" is registered with the Illinois Secretary of State as an assumed name for the sole use by Central Illinois Proud Families of Marines (CIPFM) www.cipfm.us.  The use of this name, intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect, by any individual or entity is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of CIPFM.  Any unauthorized use of this name may be reported to the Illinois Attorney General for investigation and prosecution.