Dave Willborn shares recollections about his father’s legacy of Holiday giving
Growing up, Dave Willborn remembers Christmas as a time full of presents and community involvement. Doing cold calls on behalf of Blue Santa was par for the course a few nights a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he and the entire family would gather around to attempt to collect donations.
“My spiel when I was 13 was, ‘Hi, my name is Dave, and I’m calling from the San Antonio Police Officers Association regarding our Blue Santa program, which helps needy children and their families at Christmas,’” Dave said. “We were doing that stuff as kids, maybe three nights a week. It was our way of giving back during Christmas.”
Dave’s dad, Jimmy, was a San Antonio police officer in the 60s. Back in those days, officers still walked their beats. Beyond the confines of a patrol car, they could interact with the community they served on an individual level. This connection to the community inspired Jimmy to care for those he swore to serve and protect on a deeper level, leading him to help found the San Antonio area Blue Santa program.
“I think he started in the police department in 63 – in San Antonio,” Dave recalled. “He was trying to be a firefighter. But the police gave him a job first. So he started with that. And then he noticed there were a lot of hungry kids on his route. So that was probably 65 or 66, before I was born in 74. They had a little bit of extra food to prepare for Christmas, and there were some hungry families on his route. And it was in the neighborhood that he grew up in or next door to it. So he started bringing food to them from his and mom’s cabinet. He told me the story a long time ago, and he’s been gone for several years, so some of the details have been forgotten, but it was always his pride and joy. They didn’t even have the association back then, but they started the Blue Santa modeled after Chicago or New York. Every year, he was always worried about whether he’d done enough yet. And then always found a way to give back more.”
Despite all the work it took to launch the program and sustain it over time, Jimmy involved the entire family, and it soon became an annual tradition at the heart of the family’s Christmas celebrations. Of course, Dave’s family went through their own struggles. His older siblings often had to share with the neighborhood as Jimmy would provide for everyone on his single income.
After Dave was born, his mom eventually went back to work, and by the time he was old enough to start remembering Christmas, things had changed a bit in the Willborn household.
“My siblings will disagree with me because I was the youngest of six, so to me, it was just stacks and piles and acres of toys and to them, it was stacks and piles of acres of things that were just for me, because they were all grown up,” Dave laughed. “Dad was the sole breadwinner before I was born, and mom started working maybe when I was five years old. So, by the time I was born, there were six children but two incomes. So I remember the holidays being hustle and bustle and busy and well decorated and well attended and lots of gifts. My four older siblings recall it a little differently –– more sparse. So I didn’t experience that and certainly didn’t suffer anything. But my older siblings might have suffered a little more than I did.”
Now that Dave is grown and a county attorney, he carries on his father’s tradition by giving back to Blue Santa and other organizations in Guadalupe County. He does this by buying toys at a discount in bulk, which allows him to get more bang for his donation buck.
“It’s just trying to reach as many kids as possible because my kids get to wake up on Christmas morning, and everything’s lit up, but they only have one present from Santa,” Dave said. “That’s our rule. Everything else comes from mom and dad. Santa brings them just one toy or one gift, but they get whatever they want. I remember a lot of kids growing up that didn’t. And I also remember there were times when we didn’t have much money; I recall feeling like I was a little less fortunate than others. And I don’t think that’s a great way for a kid to feel, especially at Christmas. It’s easy for me to be able to give. I think it’s my responsibility socially to do so.”
This year, he donated an entire palette of Cocomelon toys to the KWED Holiday Food & Toy Drive. After unloading, stacks of toys filled the KWED office lobby and helped kick off the annual drive benefitting the Seguin Police Department’s Blue Santa Program and the Christian Cupboard, Seguin’s food pantry.
“This is a smaller donation for me,” Dave said. “I didn’t have my trailer. I’ve got three palettes. But I’m going to take some to True Light Ministries, and there are a couple of other Blue Santa programs in the county and outside of the county that are in need of some extra toys. So I’m going to deliver to them as well. But yeah, that was the biggest tradition that I brought forward, or my whole family has brought forward, is sharing. We’re a sharing family. I’ve got two children, twins, seven years old. And their base inclination is not to share. But they’re very good at it now because I’m trying to instill in them that we share as a family and community.”
And as the next generation of Willborn children grows up in the spirit of giving, Dave continues to build on the legacy that his father started, reminding us all that sometimes giving is the best part of the holiday season.
