FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Yes Virginia, Santa is Canadian
Philanthropist Tom Jackson empties his pockets for those in hunger and despair
By Aubrey McInnisTOM JACKSON with Scatter the Mud and The Mike Plume Band
Sunday, November 30
Jack Singer Concert HallI stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was too young to drink coffee, but young enough to get away with curiously yanking off the synthetic, white beard from some stubbly man's face after asking for Pretty in Pink Barbie.
Years later, I'm sitting across from a 50-year-old man who has been identified as Santa Claus. In addition to the warm chuckle, beaming eyes and never-ending generosity, (the man also known as) Tom Jackson is a singer-songwriter, North of 60 and Shining Time Station star who resides in Calgary. So much for the North Pole.
"It's a labor of love for us here," explains Tom about his bustling downtown office. "It gets pretty exciting around this office about this time of year."
I cautiously scan the modestly sized office for elves. It's buzzing with six employees scurrying to carry out numerous projects that Tom's production company, Tomali Pictures, is pursuing. Tom's employees aren't referred to as elves, but as "angels" since they help him carry out an ambitious load of work, including the final draft of Tomali's state-of-the-art studios on our city's outskirts.
Fourteen projects are on this month's agenda for Tomali Productions, one of which is a music video for a song from Tom's seventh album, That Side of the Window. All album proceeds and video play royalties will be donated to the Canadian Association of Food Banks. Added to the album-generated donations are funds raised during the 10th annual benefit concert series, The Huron Carole. Another one of Tom's philanthropic ideas, The Huron Carole raised over $200,000 for Canadian food banks last year.
Still more, on Christmas Eve - less than 48 hours after the completion of the Huron series - Tom will be back in Calgary to launch the first of many Mobile Soup Kitchens.
"Finally we're going to complete that project," says Tom - who incidentally sleeps six or seven hours maximum every night - of the Mobile Soup Kitchen. "But we have sponsors. Every once in a while we have these conversations around here going, 'We gotta make some money, we've got to do something.'
"We were planning this thing in February, who knew there was going to be a flood? So how do you plan that?"
The Red River flood inspired Tom to drop all personal plans and raise a $3 million relief fund by a concert benefit tour... organized in two weeks flat.
So Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he can be found in the gray downtown core generally reserved for those who make money off of other people, not those who devise ways of donating money to other people.
Tom Jackson is Winnipeg-born and has traveled all over the continent, yet he has chosen to be a member of the Calgary community for the perpetual benevolence of its citizens.
"I find Calgary to be very, very endearing. People care and they move fast, they don't think twice about it, they just go-go-go and that's my style of living," he explains in his trademark baritone voice. "That's the way I am, so I fit in without being noticed, which is nice."
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