An Interview with Legacy Leader Saint Nicholas

What can I possibly write about this leader. So much has been written about him that anything I say will certainly seem redundant. Well, at least that’s what I thought until I actually talked to him and got his answers to my Legacy Leader questions. Wow was I ever wrong. Here‘s what St. Nicholas has to say.

Jay: Good morning Nicholas. Do you mind if I call you Nick?

St. Nicholas: No young man, that would be just fine. I actually prefer that; it’s much less formal and I’d prefer people to be relaxed around me.

Jay: that’s great, thanks. So, Nick, what is it that you do? We’ve heard so much about you but the story we hear is about one night and so much work, that can’t be the whole story. What do you do the other 364 days of the year?

Nick: You’re totally correct. What happens one day a year is certainly not a true reflection of all my activities. You see, the story really starts many, many years ago, when I was just a young man trying to make a difference in my world. I decided, early in my life, that I would serve a purpose much bigger than myself. I saw so much pain and suffering and such horrible poverty all around me and I had resources that so many did not have, so I decided that I would do my best to help every person I could. I really had a passion for the children because they were suffering and it was no fault of theirs that they were in that situation. So I used the resources I had to make their life a little brighter. I didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to me for helping out so I would just sneak into their home and leave something that I thought would help. At first it was just a few coins to help families pay their obligations but when I saw them so happy about being so fortunate, I knew I was on to something big and I thought, I could do so much more!

Jay: Ok, Nick; I think I seeing the picture here. All you wanted to do was help people in need. So how did we get to this around the world flight and presents for every girl and boy?

Nick: That’s a great story in its own right. It’s going to take a while to tell it. Are you sure you have time?

Jay: I’m all ears and I’ve got the next hour carved out just for you. Let’s hear what happened.

Nick: During those early years I became a leader in an important organization in my community. It was a fairly new organization at the time but many local people liked what it did and they became members. I would tell them at our meetings that the needs of the people were holding all of us back. I told them that our founder wants us all to remember that the way we treat those around us is a reflection upon how we might treat him if he were standing right there among them. I told them often that it was our job to end the suffering, pain, and sadness in our world and they agreed to make that our vision!

Jay; so your vision statement could have been “We will end pain, suffering, and sadness in our world!”

Nick: Yes, that’s what got us started but the more we worked the more need we saw. It didn’t take long for us to realize that we might have bitten of more than we could chew so we had to modify our vision, mission, and goals.

Jay: Ah, the course correction we hear about. Organizations get into doing what they think they need to do and start evaluating their effectiveness and efficiency and then they decide maybe we need to change a few things.

Nick: That’s exactly what happened to us. We knew that with the few people we had in our organization we would soon be overwhelmed with the needs of the world. So we figured we needed to do 2 things. First was to narrow our focus and second was we needed a bigger team. So our vision, didn’t really change other than to now just focus on the children and this led to a major modification in our mission and goals. Our mission became find out what the children of our world needed and provide it to them. Our goals became very focused and those were: 1) find every child in need, 2) figure out what they need, and 3) get what they need to them. Over the years, the world started doing a better job of meeting many of the children’s needs in some parts of the world but other parts still hadn’t quite taken care of their children. We realized that we needed point people in each area of the world to help us achieve our goals. We couldn’t apply the formula from Eastern Europe to Central Africa nor could we try to make what works in the United States fit the conditions in India. We needed people who understood each segment of our world’s population to head up a world-wide team of experts that would meet the various needs in every part of the world.

Jay: This is a huge undertaking. And it sounds like the values you are working from are very clear in your mind. Would you mind sharing what those values are?

Nick: Not at all! It’s all very simple. Our number one value, quite simply put, is “Every Child is a Christmas Child!” And our second value is very similar. “Every Family is a Christmas Family!” We have a third value that is also important to us. “Every person is worthy of our love!”

Jay: Wow! Just wow! That’s what drives you? Love?

Nick: Oh, for certain! That is what we are all about. Initially this wasn’t a Christmas thing at all. It was something we did every day of the year. But as our reach began to exceed our capacity to touch, we decided what better day to outwardly apply those values but on Christmas Day. To make this happen requires thousands of dedicated men and women who all want to make the world a little brighter for the children of the world. We still apply these values every day of the year but the present thing, that is now reserved for Christmas Day.

Jay: Nick, I ask everyone I interview this question, so I’ll ask you too, but I can’t imagine you can actually see this. The question is, do you see your organization’s values alive in the people of the organization?

Nick: I most certainly do. I now have the chance to peek into smaller gatherings of my organization in every country, on every continent on the earth. When these people gather, the vast majority of them are totally in tune with what we believe and value. There are those that come to organization meetings for totally the wrong reason but you know what, as long as we get them there, there is a chance they might become true believers in our cause. I am worried about the younger generation, however. Too many of them are looking in too many different places for meaning and not enough of them are looking inside themselves to see how they can connect to the world in a meaningful way. They want to, but we haven’t done a good job of showing them how. We have to start teaching them that connecting is a personal thing. Someone else cannot give you validation and connection. The meaning doesn’t come from the work, the meaning comes from what you bring to the work. Significance is not something someone can create for you, it something you create for others. The St. Nicholas vision will live for ever as long as we remember how it was created and connect with it on that level. The very first children I helped were three children in one family that did not have the money to provide for their needs. So, late at night, I went into their home and left a small sack of coins on their hearth. The next day, the father woke up and found the coins and he took care of the needs of his oldest daughter. That night I did the same thing and in the morning the father could take of what his second daughter needed. That night I left the third sack of coins and the next day he could take care of his youngest daughter’s needs. That’s the true spirit of the entire project. For when I did for the smallest and least of these children, I made a difference and that difference multiplied to a massive mission that touches every part of the world. Today’s young people need to learn that lesson. You don’t only change the world in huge projects of international significance. You start amazing movements with small acts of kindness done with a pure heart.

Jay: Nick, your story is amazing. I am so glad I go this time to sit and chat with you. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Nick: The only thing I’d like to add is that I am always in need of people who will be true believers in the St. Nicholas Project. We will take any person onto our team. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. As long as you are willing to adopt our values and live them out through your work, you can be part of our team. We love you unconditionally and accept you as you have been. The only rules we have is that you do all your work with love and that you never allow hatred to become part of the work. Peace and Merry Christmas to all!

Jay: Thank you so much Nick. This has been quite enlightening. I hope all my readers will enjoy this as much as I have. Have a very Merry Christmas and please, keep up the good work.