One snowy November evening 34 years ago, Mike Sturch was stuck in traffic on his way home from work in downtown Chicago. Out of his car window Mike saw a group of children playing in the snow at a Catholic Charities orphanage.
The scene of those kids played over and over in his head as he drove home, and by the time he was in bed that night, Mike decided that something needed to be done to help those less fortunate.
So at work the next morning, Mike made a few phone calls. He ended up on the line with Sister Andrea Vaughn of St. Vincent de Paul Center on Chicago's North Side. He told her that he wanted to throw a Christmas party for the children at her daycare.
As Sister Andrea used to say, “I could barely hear him over the phone. I even asked him if he was calling from a bar with all the noise in the background. I told him if he was serious, to come down that afternoon and meet with me.”
Sure enough, Mike hung up his phone on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange where he worked and headed up to St. Vincent de Paul Center.
A few weeks later, Mike gathered up three of his best friends, whom he’d known since kindergarten, and some co-workers.
To the surprise of everyone, this group of friends—in their early 20s at the time—showed up at the door of St. Vincent de Paul Center. With one dressed as Santa, they gave small presents to each child at St. Vincent’s, some groceries to their families and record players to all of the classrooms.
The party was a hit. The kids loved Mike and his friends, and for many of them, this was the only Christmas present they received that year.
The part that really gets you is this: Dec. 13 this year will mark the 34th Christmas in a row that Mike Sturch and his friends have come to St. Vincent de Paul Center with a brand new gift for each of the 400 children.
Somewhere over the years, Mike found out that the St. Vincent de Paul Center also cared for the at-risk senior citizens. The next year, they each received a Christmas present and a dinner party. They still do.
About 10 years ago, Mike threw a luncheon for nine of the homeless clients, giving them each a new coat and a pair of shoes. It grew. Today, hundreds of homeless guests come to St. Vincent’s Annual Outreach Luncheon on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to receive new clothes, medical attention, haircuts, sleeping bags, showers, a hot Thanksgiving meal and a little compassion.
Mike’s friends started an endowment fund a few years back. It has raised over $600,000 to support the children, seniors and homeless of St. Vincent de Paul Center, and it continues to grow. His commitment has brought the Center through tough times, and his charity has inspired countless others to go and do likewise.
Why does Mike do all this? “I was in my early 20’s when I drove past those kids playing in the snow," he said. "My wife was pregnant with our first son, and all I wanted to do was a simple act of kindness so that when my kids grew up they would know – this is how people deserve to be treated. Now it is more a part of our lives than I had ever dreamed.”
Thousands of Chicagoans have come through the doors of St. Vincent’s in the last 34 years – as children whose parents needed to work to put food on the table, or homeless clients needing clothes, or seniors with nowhere else to turn. Mike Sturch has touched all of their lives – and is known to them simply as Santa Mike.
To find out how to get involved in serving the poor with St. Vincent de Paul Center, please contact Brian Shields at (312) 943-6776, ext. 2220.
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