Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Angels in the Valley:

Nonprofit shares 12 days of Christmas spirit

In12Days founder/CEO Suzanne Lea

L.E. Baskow

In12Days founder/CEO Suzanne Lea for The Sunday’s Angel series at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory & Cactus Garden on Thursday, September 19, 2014.

Suzanne Lea’s In12Days

In12Days, the Las Vegas charity created by Suzanne Lea. Launch slideshow »

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The stories don’t affect Suzanne Lea the way they used to.

She recalled a recent call from a woman wanting to nominate a family for Lea’s nonprofit, In12Days. Every year, Lea selects 12 people who have suffered a loss or tragedy and rallies the community to provide them unique holiday gifts centered on the theme of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

As the caller fought back tears describing the family that had suddenly lost its baby boy, it became clear to Lea that the woman calling was the baby’s mother.

Rather than dwell on the tragedy, Lea gently laughed. Not to mock the mother, but because she knew what was in store for the woman and her family. Hopefully, this was the beginning of the healing process.

“You just got nominated for In12Days,” Lea told the woman.

By the end of the conversation, they were laughing together, Lea said.

Lea has worked with dozens of families through In12Days. She has helped children who lost their parents and families wracked by illness.

Throughout it, she has learned not to dwell on people’s tragedies because it can be paralyzing. Instead, Lea focuses on what she can do for those people. Lea understands what they are going through. In 2008, her husband died of a sudden heart attack, leaving Lea to raise their two boys alone.

For months, well-wishers told Lea how sorry they were and how difficult it must be. Despite their good intentions, it rarely helped, Lea said.

Come Christmas, depression had started to set in. Then, a gift came to the door. Anonymous friends from church sent Lea and her boys a bowl of pears. Then 200 chocolate doves. And gifts for another 10 days.

Each day, she and her children sprinted to the door, excited for the next surprise. On the final day, the church members gathered at her door to sing. The outpouring of support helped Lea and her children heal and inspired Lea to begin In12Days.

Since 2010, she has poured in her own money and worked 20-hour days to organize a dozen gifts for a dozen families each year. She enlists community groups and businesses to sponsor the gifts, while family and friends of the recipients help with deliveries.

Lea has arranged for the cast of “Jersey Boys” to sing outside of one family’s home, scheduled a helicopter ride in the desert and a private school scholarship for another boy, and had UNLV’s mascot and cheerleaders bring another boy to campus so he could shoot hoops with the basketball team.

But the magic isn’t in the gifts. It’s about the families and the community coming together.

The stories Lea hears haven’t gotten easier to deal with. But she knows the joy that awaits the families she’ll help. That’s why she laughs.

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