What a weekend! The 28th Annual Christmas in the City (and my fourth) is over! Transportation is such a crucial part of this event and ensuring every guest arrives safely and timely and leaves safely is a huge task! As one of only two people from Christmas in the City to meet, coordinate and just speak to Shelter Directors via e-mail and phone calls, I am forever grateful to be tasked with this duty and have the trust of all my co-party planners (red vests) to do this task.
Did you know?
- It took 148 First Student School Buses being driven by the utmost caring, kind and professional school bus drivers you will ever meet
- Supervised by many First Student managers
- Maintained by multiple First Student mechanics
- Coming from 18 different locations, including: Falmouth/Bourne, Barnstable, Plymouth, Duxbury, Pembroke/Silver Lake, Norwell, Brockton, Whitman-Hanson, Abington, Stoughton, Weymouth, Rockland, Holbrook, Randolph, Westborough, Nashoba Regional/Assabet Valley, Wayland and Lincoln-Sudbury
- To pickup at 88 different addresses in Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Dorchester, Roslindale, Roxbury, Southie to Brighton to East Boston, Charlestown, Downtown Boston to Somerville, Cambridge, Lynn, Chelsea, Medford, Malden, Peabody, Lawrence, Tewksbury and south to Quincy
- Where 52 shelters, programs and organizations are located
- Bringing 3,159 smiling and energetic children
- To a final total of 4,994 grateful guests
- Being helped into the party by 200 volunteers ranging from young teenagers to adults
- And then 250 volunteers ranging from young teenagers to adults to bring everyone back to the buses at the end of the day
- Plus 30 Transportation Assistants who numbered buses and assisted Party Greeters
- All planned and orchestrated by 1 Transportation Coordinator
These numbers do not include the several thousand additional front-line volunteers consisting of Party Coordinators, Security Guards, Shelter Captains, Party Elves and many more behind-the-scenes volunteers who make this weekend happen
Thank you to all of the following people who I reach out to and work with on an almost daily basis during November and December:
- Christmas in the City founders Jake and Sparky Kennedy
- Exceptional Shelter and Party Coordinators Nancy and Deahn
- Party Extraordinaire Max
- Dedicated Volunteer Coordinators Alexandra and Lisa
- Security Coordinator Mike
- Boston Convention Center Event and Transportation Managers
- Barbie, Joe, Christine, Lee and Ashley from First Student Bus Company
- And most of all – our Shelter Directors
Thank you again to everyone involved!
Tim Cosseboom, Transportation Coordinator
CITC P.S. Many thanks to Tim for his tremendous efforts here.
