A True Christmas Project (O Natal de Verdade) started with one man, a Santa suit, and a bag of candy.
It started with my uncle
Every bit of this project traces back to one person: my uncle, Heleno Dória. He is the Santa in these photos, the driver on the routes, and the reason our family spends every Christmas morning in the streets of Venda Nova.
He never asked anyone’s permission and never waited for a budget. He started with what he had, gave it away, and did it again the next year. The rest of us grew up watching him, and one by one we joined in. I started as one of his kid helpers. Today I run the fundraising side from the United States, and whenever I can, I am back on the truck with him.
Santa on foot
My uncle, Heleno Dória, began walking the low-income neighborhoods of Venda Nova, on the north side of Belo Horizonte, dressed as Santa every Christmas morning. He carried candy and popcorn, and he stopped for a photo with every child who ran up to him. For kids whose families could not afford presents, that moment was Christmas.
The motorcade begins
Word spread street to street, and walking stopped being enough. In 1997 Santa switched to a motorcycle, reaching more of the neighborhood with sweets and a small gift for every child. Soon my uncle was driving the route in his own car too, carrying more toys than a motorcycle ever could. That one car behind Santa was the start of the motorcade that still rolls through Venda Nova every Christmas morning.
Simple gifts, growing crowds
The gifts in those years were as simple as it gets. Candy, popcorn, and little plastic soccer balls bought by the crate. But the crowds kept growing, and families started lining the streets before Santa even arrived. No child walked away empty handed, even when what we had to give was small.
Classmates and family pitch in
By 2008 I was studying at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Each holiday season through 2011, I ran the project from campus, asking classmates, friends, and family to chip in for the toy run back home in Belo Horizonte. Those first donations from the United States put more toys on the truck than we could have managed alone.
The internet joins in
In 2012 the campus collections grew into our first online campaign. Fundraising online meant we could buy real toys at wholesale, about a thousand or more every year. Since then, friends and family have contributed more than $54,000 across 14 campaigns, and every dollar is accounted for publicly.
The motorcade rolls on
The event is a motorcade of more than 30 cars, motorcycles, and a bus, escorted by the Military Police and Belo Horizonte’s Municipal Guard. Volunteers, local Boy Scouts, neighbors, and three generations of our family hand out toys, food baskets, and clothing. And the rule Heleno set on day one still holds: if the toys run out, Santa still stops for every child. A wave, a hug, a photo.
