Between Mill Valley’s vibrant Winterfest on Dec. 8 and Tiburon’s largest Catholic parish bringing back a charitable tradition on

Nov. 30, community-forward initiatives have sprouted during this holiday season across a diverse collection of people. These two events showcase a celebration of community, fostering a joyous holiday season in the Bay Area. 

The Giving Tree, a time-honored tradition of Saint Hilary Catholic Church (St. Hilary’s) in Tiburon, was set up for families to grab yellow-star information card “ornaments” from children of families in trying financial circumstances to provide them with Christmas gifts. One freeway exit south, Mill Valley’s annual Winterfest celebration opened at The Depot during the afternoon of Dec. 8, presenting a variety of entertainment for all ages. While varying in location and aim, these two events facilitated community-wide connection during this holiday season.

The Giving Tree is part of St. Hilary’s effort to give back to the community during the holidays, which can be stressful and financially straining for families. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, St. Hilary’s encouraged families who lived in The Hilarita, a collection of affordable housing units in Tiburon, to build Christmas wish lists of specific toys, clothes or everyday items like toiletries. In recent years, this tradition has shifted towards donating gift cards to places like Target, Amazon or Safeway in hopes of helping families make meaningful holiday memories with gifts they pick out themselves. Director of Missions at St. Hilary’s Thea Fiatarone spearheaded the event and was grateful for the fast engagement of the Tiburon population.

“I like to just remind everyone that the absolute worst thing that happened with the Giving Tree was that we ran out of gifts, and that’s actually the best thing that could have happened,” Fiatarone said.

The strong parish participation in less than 24 hours showcased the role of community in faith-based connection. St. Hilary’s parishioner Eddie Savino has supported the cause over the past two decades that he has been active in the church.

“There are a lot of people who are not as fortunate as [St. Hilary’s members] and for us as a community — a church community especially — to be able to gather up our resources and to then present them to people who don’t have [a lot] is just a good ‘giving’ feeling,” Savino said. “As little as it seems to us — I don’t know what it’s like to receive these gifts, but if you don’t have very much and you’re getting these gifts — it’s pretty exciting.”

Savino’s sentiments are shared by many parishioners, especially given that the tradition has shifted toward more gift card-based donations since the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“If we can make that little bit of an impression or that little bit of a difference on someone’s life, then it’s really, really well worth what we’re doing,” Savino said. 

Chana Scop co-runs the Jewish nonprofit Chabad of Mill Valley with her husband. On Dec. 8, they were given a booth to share their faith and provide trinkets for kids in the area. 

“We are here to build the Jewish community,” Scop said. “Today, we set up a Hanukkah pop-up shop for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, [which] celebrates light.”

Scop runs the nonprofit with her husband, Rabbi Hillel Scop, the Director of Chabad of Mill Valley. At the booth, Scop handed out informational pamphlets about Hanukkah in hopes to foster joy and connection among local Jewish practitioners. While spotlighting some Christmas decorations like blow-up nutcrackers and a Santa station, Winterfest also housed organizations like Scop’s in order to showcase a diverse array of faiths in the community. 

In the St. Hilary’s community, the celebration was more so focused on centering actions around faith-based engagement. Like Savino, Fiatarone hopes families will feel more support than ever before in the 2024 Christmas season with the high turnout of generous donations. 

“We actually did not have an official giving tree last year… and it was a decision when talking with parishioners that we wanted to bring it back in an official way [for this Advent season],” Fiatarone said. “We started with The Hilarita, and that was for precise gifts. We asked the families at The Hilarita for gift suggestions for what their children would want, and that’s what went onto the Giving Tree.”

Fiatarone mentioned that there were only 34 children involved in this year’s Giving Tree wishlists, which fell below the estimated 60 children that St. Hilary’s expected to support. With a lesser-than-anticipated turnout, the star ornaments on the tree were snatched by the end of the 9 a.m. mass on Dec. 1 after being set up just the night before. 

“We are definitely going to expand [the Giving Tree] next year to more communities,” Fiatarone said. “[Each child] received one gift, and usually [that gift] is about $50 and it’s an actual gift.”

This year marked a shift back to the traditional roots of the Giving Tree tradition, which encouraged people to donate physical items rather than gift cards for families in need. 

“The theme of our Christmas at [St. Hilary’s] this year is ‘A Classic Christmas,’ so we are giving a physical gift to [each] child, not just a gift card… and usually [that gift] is about $50,” Fiatarone said. 

Fiatarone plans to continue this initiative of physical gifts in future years, as feedback from parishioners has continuously shown that people feel most involved in the Christmas spirit when they get to pick out particular gifts for local children. 

“There’s the spirit of Christmas, and that’s what we are trying to keep alive at St. Hilary’s because when we just start to give gift cards, the spirit of Christmas goes away,” Fiatarone said. 

As families continue purchasing gifts for families in need of extra holiday support, many have eased the stress of the holiday season by knowing that they are making a difference in the local communities’ holiday joy.

“Our plan was to start with the gifts for The Hilarita and then I was going to put on the extra gifts for the toy drive that we are doing, and I thought I wouldn’t need to put those on until I came back to work on Monday,” Fiatarone said. “I got phone calls from people saying they were completely gone, and my only response was ‘That’s wonderful,’ because it means that yes, you don’t get to grab a gift for a child specifically, but it’s wonderful because that means that St. Hilary was able to provide that many gifts for The Hilarita in such a small amount of time.”

This idea of generosity is present in many faiths during this season, and Scop’s pop-up booth at Winterfest spotlighted the diversity included in giving back to the community and creating fun spaces for children. 

“We had latkes, which is a traditional potato pancake, and we had a craft for the kids, and it was really fun,” Scop said. 

Creating this joy sparked smiles around Marin in the beginning of December, helping to connect people of various ages and backgrounds to the joy of the season.

While many have found it difficult to find space during the Christian season of Advent to celebrate other religious celebrations, Scop made sure to invite Jewish practitioners to feel welcomed in Mill Valley’s Winterfest celebration. This inclusivity has become a popular theme in modern religious holidays, facilitating engagement regardless of religious diversity or variations in upbringing.