Nonprofit began after couple helped struggling family
Published in the December 9 – 22, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Christmas presents are piled under a tree before they are given to local needy families.
About a decade ago right before Christmas, Mike Gallagher and his wife became involved in helping a local family that was struggling. It changed their lives forever. That experience of helping during the holidays planted the seed for the Morgan Hill-based nonprofit organization Zuzu’s Petals.
“We shared our experience with friends and family and found most asking, ‘How can we be involved in something like that?’ We had such an outpouring of folks wanting to help the following year that we knew a nonprofit was necessary,” Gallagher said. “We never set out to start a nonprofit, it just kind of happened. We discovered people want to give, particularly when they’re helping kids living in their own backyard.”
The unusual name Zuzu’s Petals came from director Frank Capra’s Christmas classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” one of Gallagher’s all-time favorites. In the movie the hero George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) gets a glimpse through the aid of an angel of what the world would be like if he had never been born. Like Bailey did in the film, Gallagher helps people get the financing they need to move into homes – he works as the managing director of Opes Advisor’s Morgan Hill Office.
At the film’s end, a suicidal George prays to God to give his life back. When he reaches into his pocket and finds the petals of a flower given to him earlier in the story by his daughter Zuzu, he knows his prayer was answered.
“I love the story because we all need reminding that we play a bigger part in the lives of our family and friends than we probably give ourselves credit for,” Gallagher said. “I thought the name Zuzu’s Petals was fitting.”
The mission of Zuzu’s Petals is to help less privileged but well deserving children and their families during the holidays and throughout the year. With the help of the organization’s team of “angels” on the street, Gallagher learns a lot about the children and families they help without them ever knowing they’re involved. The group wants to make sure its help is going where it is truly needed, and to those children who are doing their best to learn in school.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Volunteers Steve Barsanti and Shannon Sloan along with Mike Gallagher at the fundraiser at Mama Mia’s.
During the holiday season, the children receive a wrapped gift, the parents receive something small but nice as a present. During the rest of the year, Zuzu’s Petals “angels” keep an ear out for children needing help with school supplies or other unexpected needs.
“We want to make it a Christmas they won’t forget, but we stay anonymous,” Gallagher said. “There’s something magical about giving, it is hugely rewarding. And while giving to any noble cause is wonderful, I think people love our effort because it is very local. We hear it all the time from our supporters, they feel a deeper connection because they know they are helping kids right here in town.”
Zuzu’s Petals holds only one event during the year, an annual fundraiser at Morgan Hill’s Mama Mia’s restaurant prior to the Thanksgiving holiday week. Gallagher calls it “Christmas in November” and it serves as Zuzu’s Petals’ official kick-off to the winter holiday season. Sponsors, in-kind donors, and the folks who show up spend their hard earned money are just “a bunch of locals who love kids and love giving” – and love a great excuse to drink eggnog and brandy before Thanksgiving.
“Since our inception nine years ago, Mama Mia’s has generously provided the food for the event at no cost to us, ensuring all proceeds go to helping kids,” he said. “We don’t sell tickets, and we don’t require RSVP, we just ask if you show up that you bring a gift. Kind of like George Bailey didn’t know who would show up to bail him out at the end, we never know who will show. That makes it fun.”
Mark Turner, a Morgan Hill resident and the executive director of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, has been involved in Zuzu’s Petals for many years and believes it makes the holiday season a brighter time for local families who might be struggling financially.
“Zuzu’s Petals is a worthy cause because it directly benefits those in need. It assists families who might not otherwise have the chance to celebrate Christmas with a nice meal and gifts for all the kids and the parents too,” he said. “Zuzu’s Petals has designed the provision of gifts and food in such a way as to allow for the maximum amount of dignity for everyone involved.”
Turner credits Gallagher as “the driving force” behind Zuzu’s Petals’ efforts to provide people in need with food and gifts during the holidays and make a significant contribution to families in the community.
“Through a similar effort to assist families at church a number of years ago, Mike was moved by the great need in our community for those who had little to no resources at Christmas time,” Turner said. “Mike could not stop thinking about the over joyous response by the families who received food, gifts and a Christmas tree.”
From that one act of holiday kindness, the flower seeds were planted that resulted in Zuzu’s Petals to ensure families in the community would continue to get help, he said.
“Mike reached out to everyone he knew, worked with and came in contact with to share his vision,” he said. “He inspired groups of people to shop for gifts and food, to help wrap gifts, to raise money and donate toward the effort. Mike has continued doing this for nine years and I don’t see him growing tired anytime soon.”
