Snowbird aims to make 2021 ‘Best Christmas Ever’ for local family

Monsoon season has ended and fall has begun, putting many in the holiday mood. BJ Lingren is in the Christmas spirit all year long and wants others to join her — for a good cause.

The new Rancho El Dorado resident is bringing the nonprofit Best Christmas Ever
to the city from Minnesota for the first time this year.

“We recently bought a house in Maricopa, and I couldn’t imagine a Christmas without Best Christmas Ever,” Lingren said.

Lingren and her husband Scott were looking to become snowbirds — their sons AJ and Cody are out of the house and married — and they wanted to be in Arizona, but not a large city. They looked at places between Tucson and Phoenix and chose Maricopa.

“We definitely wanted to be close to golf,” she said.

Lingren owns eLogger, a software company that sells logbook software to the utility industry. Her position allows her to work remotely, which gives the Lingrens the opportunity to live here during the winters. But being away from Minnesota meant she’d be away at Christmas.

As the chair of the board of directors of Best Christmas Ever in her hometown of Cromwell, Minnesota, she wasn’t willing to sacrifice the joy she gets from her volunteer work just to winter in the sunny Sonoran Desert.

So, she brought the program with her.

‘DOER AND A DONOR’

The Best Christmas Ever, founded in 2010, serves families who have fallen on tough times through no fault of their own. The charity partners with local leaders and businesses to bless families with a gift package tailored to their unique situations. The organization also provides continuing support to families beyond the special Christmastime.

Lingren became familiar with BCE in Minnesota out of a desire to help families who were victims of circumstance, and not bad decision-making. Before her involvement with the charity, her own family would help another family for the holidays.

“We would try to bless a family every Christmas, working with the Salvation Army. We would have them find a family for us and give them what they need most,” Lingren said. “But the families we were blessing were making a lot of bad choices to put themselves in need, and eventually I didn’t feel that good about it.”

Then she saw a video about BCE and started making some calls. The founder of the organization, Don Liimatainen, was in her office “about 20 minutes later,” Lingren said.

The connection feels more personal to Lingren with BCE than other charities with which she has been involved. She said when a donation is made to an organization like United Way, Salvation Army or the Red Cross, the donor typically writes a check and never gets to see where their money goes. With BCE, the volunteers present donations directly to the family, making it much more personal and gratifying.

According to Liimatainen, Lingren sets a wonderful example of what BCE is all about.

“She’s one of the great people we have involved,” Liimatainen said. “She’s one of these people who’s a doer — she’s a doer and a donor. She puts money where her mouth is. She’s not afraid to roll up her sleeves and do whatever it takes to give these families an amazing Christmas. Whatever family gets blessed (in Maricopa), it’s going to be life-changing for them.”

BCE’s efforts are driven by volunteer “captains” responsible for soliciting donations and reviewing applications. Their careful research of applicants includes vetting on social media, talking to nominators and running background checks.

When a family is selected, their captain notifies the nominator that their family has been selected. But the family is not told; the gifts are always a surprise.

WANTED: SPECIAL FAMILIES

Now, Lingren is looking for worthy Maricopa families in need of a special Christmas.

• There are just three rules for nominating a family, she said:
• Families cannot nominate themselves.
• Families must have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own.
• There must be minor children in the home.

“We are looking for people who have been living a normal life, doing great on their own and a tragedy comes and just derails them,” Lingren said, citing cancer, car accidents, housefires and deaths in the family as situations faced by previous award recipients.

In the early going, Maricopans have shown their characteristic generosity, Lingren said. But she needs nominations to determine which families to help in this inaugural year.
“If we don’t have families nominated, all the donations in the world won’t help,” she said.

Once a nominated family is selected to receive a Best Christmas Ever, volunteers work directly with the nominator to develop an individualized gift list for each person in the home based on the family’s needs, a list that can be extensive.

“The rule of thumb for BCE is to deliver 10 gifts per family member,” Lingren said. “People can donate anything from a pair of socks to a TV. We’ve even delivered brand new cars — it all just depends on what the family’s needs are. But we never give funds directly to a family. The funds go toward things like mortgage payments, or medical bills, utilities, things like that.”

Liimatainen said the personal nature of the gifts helps set BCE apart.

“Everything carried through that family’s door is custom to them,” he said. “Every gift item is like a good friend picked it out for them. It’s like if you had a friend and they happened to fall ill during the holidays, and they’re good people, you might say to yourself, ‘I wish I could do something for them.’ This is like that but times 10.”

To ensure donors’ generosity has a lasting impact on the family, the recipients are asked to do two things — and are further rewarded when they do. First, they are encouraged to complete the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program, which teaches people how to manage their money. If a family completes the nine-week, online class it earns $1,000 toward any bill they have to pay.

The second item is an eight-week health course teaching diet, nutrition, exercise and other healthy-living habits. Upon completion, the family receives a $1,000 gift card to the grocery store of their choice to implement that new knowledge.

“Best Christmas Ever is about more than just Christmas Day,” Liimatainen said. “It’s a life-changing event, what we do for these families. Their whole life trajectory is different after this.”

Nominations of deserving families can be made at BCEMovement.com until Nov. 1. Nominators are asked not to inform the family they nominate.