Sunday, December 14, 2003

	Bob's Garage regulars Patti Davies, queen of the Christmas angels, and John Watson, key member of the Valentines Day clean-up crew. Click photo for larger image.

Bob Paganico doesn't show for an interview.

He doesn't care to have the name of his business mentioned. Forget posing for a photo.

In the end, Paganico remains a reluctant voice at the end of the phone, almost fearful that self-promotion will in some way destroy the magic that brings together a merry band of volunteers who operate the Spirit of Christmas charity from a table in Bob's Garage Lounge, his tiny bar and restaurant on the border of Blawnox and O'Hara.

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Each year, the charity raises between $20,000 and $25,000 in a little more than two weeks, money that is used to buy toys, clothes and food for 200 needy families, including 400 children, in the North Hills.

"I'd be nothing without my people," Paganico says humbly. "It's my customers who made this happen. Bob's Garage only gives them an avenue to raise the money."

For the uninitiated, Bob's Garage is a destination spot, most especially during the Christmas season when volunteers wrap the tiny block building at 1372 Freeport Road inside and out with every imaginable decoration from handmade to store-bought, from tacky to pricey.

The effort takes two full Sundays to complete and about 250 man hours.

Nearly 5,000 lights cascade across the front of the exterior, obscuring the bar name but making the building visible from a quarter-mile away.

At least three times that many lights are strung in a grid pattern inside, casting a soft colorful glow in the bar that seats 81 people. Every beam is wrapped in Christmas paper, and white garland outlines the room. Four layers of Christmas cardboard cutouts cover the walls, and the cutouts themselves are covered in wreaths, bows and hundreds of stockings.

Ornaments dangle everywhere, as do candy canes and strands of beads and popcorn. Hand-painted murals are mounted above the square bar. A talking Santa train runs the track mounted over the heads of customers.

The overall effect is what one imagines it would be like to walk into a fairytale confection.

"It's to the point now where I take [the decorations] to a warehouse. There's probably a thousand things under the bar alone," Paganico said.

And seeing the decorations is what draws customers to Bob's Garage, particularly during the Saturday afternoons and Monday nights in December when fund-raising is the sole focus.

On those days, guest bartenders such as Penguins general manger Craig Patrick and sportscaster Bill Hillgrove designate a theme and provide door prizes that are raffled off every hour, all in the name of charity. In addition, the bartenders donate their tips and $2 from every draft beer sold also goes to the fund. The charity gets an extra boost from the bar's best karaoke singers, who each year produce a CD of holiday songs and donate all the proceeds. Homemade sausage sandwich day also is known to bring in quite a few dollars.

Collecting the money falls to the Spirit of Christmas angels, otherwise known as Patti Davies of O'Hara and Judie Greene of Allison Park, the charity's treasurer.

"Judie's the top dog. Me? I'm the queen. I'm out there after every dollar I can get," Davies says. She relates that she once took a customer's white silk scarf off his neck and raffled it away. "We got a lot. Like $75 for it."

The Spirit of Christmas has its roots in informal fund-raising that began with Bob VanPelt, who opened the bar in 1969 and collected change in upturned umbrellas to donate to charities. In 1973, a new owner, Bob Holden, bought the bar. Holden loved holiday decorations.

"He gave me carte blanche, and that's when it started going crazy," said Paganico, who was the bartender at that time.

After Holden died of a sudden heart attack in 1977, Paganico ran the bar briefly for his heirs. In 1979, using money borrowed from his customers and with help from a partner, Jim Caruso, Paganico bought the bar.

By then, decorating for Christmas and donating to local charities were traditions at Bob's.

Bar patrons provided a party with Santa, toys and gifts for the children living in the Bradley Center, a haven for kids and families in Indiana Township. For several years, they paid for the Disney Channel for the center.

In 1981, the bar's decorations were stolen from the house where they were being stored.

"We had to start from scratch again," Paganico said.

Even as the collection was being rebuilt, the community need was growing. More and more families turned to Bob's Garage and its patrons for help.

"We got a little bigger each year," Paganico said.

By 1987, a friend advised Paganico that for the sake of legalities, the effort should be formalized. Thus, the Spirit of Christmas charity was born.

Today, roughly 60 volunteers, customers, friends and employees of the bar are involved, whether it's shopping, wrapping, mapping delivery routes or, as in the case of Ellen and John Watson, working the cleanup crew. (That means that at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday after Valentine's Day, they take down and pack all of the decorations.)

Funds raised are donated to families who are referred by the Allegheny Community Center in Sharpsburg and the North Hills Community Outreach center in Allison Park. The Bradley Center gets a large group gift each year.

This year, the charity will spend $50 on each child to buy a toy and a practical item. And each family also will receive a gift certificate to buy groceries.

All of the gifts will be ready by Dec. 14. Teams of volunteers then deliver them during the day on Christmas Eve.

In addition, Paganico also fills his car with toys, just in case one of the volunteers meets a needy child on Christmas Eve who isn't on the charity's list but who might like to pick a toy.

Johnna Pro can be reached at jpro@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1574. Steve Mellon can be reached at smellon@post-gazette.com.

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