Santa's Little Helper, Spreading Cheer Throughout the Year
Statesman Cap10K, Christopher Thibert
Austin, TX —In addition to his full-time job as Saint Nicolas, Wayne Ayer shares his time throughout the year supporting local no-profits and charitable organizations throughout central Texas. The recent few years have been challenging for everyone and through it all we have found a way to come together as a community to persevere. In the winter of 2020 the pandemic had us all in its grip, old St. Nick was bound to the North Pole and prohibited from public appearances and Christmas was in jeopardy, Wayne found a way to reach the children. Santa does his best to keep up with current tech trends but, shifting to personal zoom video calls to talk to children about their holiday wishes was no small feat to save Christmas.
Each spring Wayne and his formidable crew volunteer at the Statesman Capitol 10,000 race starting line. Wayne’s jovial presence keeps the crowed entertained in the moments before the race starts. Over the past three years the event had struggled to have a live event with one lighting storm and two Covid year race cancellations. When Wayne discovered we had a backlog of old race shirts piling up in our warehouse, his Santa-minded wheels starting spinning. At the conclusion of the 2022 Cap10K race, Wayne orchestrated the delivery of over twelve pallets of old race shirts spanning six years to Austin Police Operation Blue Santa headquarters. These shirts are being distributed to communities, neighbors, and families in need this season. Here are a few of the messages from our community.
Sisters Coming Together Inc. Ministry
Hi Mr. Wayne,
I pray your Day is Blessed. On behalf of Sisters Coming Together Inc. Ministry, I would like to say Thank you for the T-Shirt give away. Many were Blessed. You will never know the hearts those shirts changed. Thank you for allowing God to use you in such a mighty way. My Name is Dora Flenoy. I’m the Founder and Visionary of this Ministry. We are a nonprofit outreach Christian Ministry. We picked up over 700 shirts.
This Ministry was Able to share t-Shirts with the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, where I have been a Member for over 35 years. My Pastor is Rev. Daryl Horton. I am a Member of the Evangelism Team, the Prison and Jail Ministries, and A full time Sunday School Teacher. Sisters Coming Together is My personal Ministry. I started this Ministry 20 years ago. Helping Women from all walks of life, to know Jesus Christ thru teaching.
Many Shirts were given out to the Homeless. Shirts were given to the Elderly at my Church Mission Function. Many of the Shirts were given to the Match program at Mt. Zion. This is a program for Foster Families. Shirts were given to our Prison Ministry for the Jail and Prison Re-Entry program. Men and Women coming out of prison.
Dora Flenoy
Travis County Attorney’s Underage Drinking Prevention Program (UDPP)
Mr. Ayer,
I wanted to take this opportunity to send you a warm and sincere thank you for the donation of the Austin American-Statesman – Capitol 10K t-shirts to the City of Austin Police Department Office of Community Liaison.
Our grant funded program serves Travis, Hays and Williamson Counties (primarily Travis), and during the past few months, we have had the pleasure of providing youth and their parents with t-shirts (about 350 at last count) as we share the anti-DWI/underage drinking prevention message throughout our community. We have hosted booths at elementary, middle and high school/community events such as Boo the Flu, National Night Out, HopeFest, Mexican Consulate BiNational Health Week, and City of Austin Recreation Center events.
They are a definite draw for our booth, and t-shirt recipients are happy and grateful to receive them. Thank you again for your generosity in working with the City of Austin Police Department Office of Community Liaison to get these out into the community. We very much appreciate the opportunity to participate in the distribution process.
Sarah Martinez
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Mr. Ayer,
I am part of Mt. Zion’s Criminal Justice Ministry, serving at The Austin Transitional Center who provides temporary housing to Returning Citizens released from Prison, and The MATCH Ministry providing items to help meet the needs of Foster and Adoptive families struggling to support the children in their care. We delivered over 1200 Cap 10K shirts to these Ministries. Your generosity is greatly appreciated, and we thank you so much for this donation.
Sis. Terri Waddle
Austin Transitional Center
Dear Mr. Ayer,
On behalf of Austin Transitional Center, myself and my partner would like to say Thank You for the donation of shirts. We were able to distribute them to the residents at the half way house and we are still distributing them. Thank you again!
Cree’Shon Packer
Phoenix Houses of Texas
Mr. Ayer,
I wanted to take this time to Thank you all for the generous donation of t-shirts. Phoenix House helped APD The Office of Liaison find organizations to give t-shirts to. The t-shirts were given to a Nursing Home who have homeless elderly and to a few church organizations.
Phoenix House is a non-profit Substance Abuse Organization who work alongside APD Liaison every year providing Prevention Life Skill Training sessions to their Summer Youth Leadership Program. We are truly grateful for the partnership we have with APD. Thanks again for the generous donation.
Anna Lombardo, APS
Housing Authority of the City of Austin
Mr. Ayer,
Over 100 shirts were given out at National Night to kids and adults at Housing Authority City of Austin property this past October.
Booker T. Washington
Naomi Conference
Dear Mr. Wayne Ayer,
Thank you so much for the free Capitol 10K T-shirt I received at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Austin, TX. I appreciate your generosity. May God continue to bless you in your ministry.
Janis Wilder, Servant Leader
Hello Mr. Ayer,
I would like to Thank You for the donated T-Shirts.
Evangelist Davis