It started with a clever scheme to earn himself a vacation. Hank Brennan began collecting bottles and cans to fund a cruise to Alaska. It took the North Vancouver videographer and building manager almost two years to raise enough money for what turned out to be the trip of a lifetime. But, as he returned home in 2008, Brennan felt compelled to keep the recycling side-hustle going.
“I realized I’m not doing [a cruise] again, and if I stop, then what a waste. So I thought what else could I do? And there was nothing better than doing some kind of charity work,” he said.
Donning a red fleece and cap with a white faux fur trim, he founded Hank’s Christmas Glitter, a charity that turns refunds for bottles and cans into treasured gifts for those in need.
Much like municipal collection, Brennan and his volunteers served different neighbourhoods on different days, driving around in his custom-wrapped Christmas-themed minivans, collecting recyclables and bringing them back to “Santa’s Workshop” in Edgemont Village. There, they would sort the bottles and cans and arrange for them to be returned. All of the proceeds were spent on gift cards for local chain restaurants, coffee shops and grocery stores, which “Santa Hank” hand delivered to people in need, most of them living on the streets.
“Up to date, it looks like it was well over $400,000 in gift cards,” Brennan said. “It’s always been good.”
But why the Christmas motif? For someone who embodies the spirit of the season all year round, it was an obvious choice for Brennan.
“First of all, I love Christmas. Our whole family is just full of Christmas all the time and I thought, well, who better to put a face to this charity than Santa? Why can’t Santa do this?”
The latest official homeless count found 168 individuals with no fixed address living on thr North Shore, although advocates estimate the real number is probably more than 400. After so many years of handing out gift cards, Brennan is on a first-name basis with almost all of them, even the ones who prefer to hide well out of sight.
“They could see I was a friendly voice. They weren’t nervous about anything, and I’d just have a little chat with them and see just where I could help them that day. And 98 per cent of the time, the cards would do the trick,” he said. “I always tell people you and I are not going to save the world. That’s a fact. What’s happening now is always going to be. But we can always help the few around us.”
Building a rapport with people on the street means hearing a lot of traumatic personal stories, which can become a burden heavier than a sack full of recycling. There are some Brennan can’t bring himself to repeat, even among those he confides in most.
“There’s a lot of what happened over the years that’ll probably never really come to light,” he said. “There’s a lot of stories I can tell, but they’re the happier ones.”
One of his fondest memories was at Christmas when Brennan – dressed as Santa Clause, white beard and all – was handing out stockings stuffed with treats and useful items to some gents waiting outside one of the bottle depots. It took a moment for Brennan to realize the impact the gesture had on one of them.
Brennan’s generosity hasn’t gone without recognition. He’s been featured in the media many times. And North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson invited Brennan to his office to receive a Canada 150 pin, recognizing those who’ve made contributions to their community.
It was never about getting attention or accolades though. In fact, he bristles at the thought of bragging. Brennan said he always knew his work wasn’t going to solve the big problems underlying homelessness, but it was reward enough to introduce a bit of compassion to someone grateful to receive it.
“It was the big picture. It wasn’t about what people thought was a lot of work, because I never called it work. None of us did , not when you enjoy doing what you do as much as we did,” he said. “Because I knew what the end results were, and that was passing those cards, putting them into somebody’s hands. That was going to make a difference in their day.”
And Brennan emphasizes, even the real St. Nick has helpers. Chief among Santa Hank’s were his younger brother and “head elf” Steve, who also once experienced living through addiction and homelessness himself, and his other brother Larry who spent his evenings collecting returnables from apartments on the North Shore.
When Brennan’s 1998 Chrysler Grand Voyager minivan began to conk out after more than 410,000 kilometers, the community put up more than $25,000 for a replacement, and the Jim Pattison Group donated a second van. Another company donated their services for the custom wraps.
Volunteers who helped with the pick-up and sorting have come and gone, but there a few Brennan name-drops as being key: Henrik Nielsen, Lynda Cameron, Alex Neubauer, Nelson Batista, Tony da Roza and Drew Wells.
“This would not have happened without all the help that I got,” he said.
