ճSanta Claus Fund’s influenceruns deep in Gale Mosher’s family history — almost a century.
When Mosher’s father, Sam Lazaroff, was about eight years old, he received his first Christmas gift box that would not only shape his own life but also influence the person he inspired his daughter to become.
“My dad always mentioned that box was (his family’s) only present. There was nothing else coming in for 11 children,” said Mosher, 78.
Born in Canada to immigrant parents from Macedonia, Lazaroff was the third oldest of his large family, and they couldn’t afford Christmas gifts.
That fateful gift box from the pc28Star, delivered around 1926, was the result of a kind neighbour in theirdowntown neighbourhood who submitted the family’s name — a gesture made without their knowledge. The boxes, filled with mittens, a hat, a toy and a piece of candy, among other items, continued to arrive at Lazaroff’s home for several years after that.
“I really think it helped develop my dad’s personality,” said Mosher. “And it was very evident. Other relatives have mentioned my dad … was always willing to try to give something to somebody.”
Lazaroff knew first-hand what it was like to do without much and what it took to earn a lot. He was always trying to bring home a few pennies to help his family, whether it was giving up his weekends and evenings as a young boy to sell newspapers or walking around downtown with a friend picking up horse manure to sell to neighbours as fertilizer for their gardens.
When he entered his preteens, Lazaroff was also able to enjoy his first and last summer camp near Bolton thanks to the Star’s Fresh Air Fund. Mosher said it was another life-changing opportunity, since he lived in a concrete jungle and would otherwise never have experienced “all that fresh air.”
After he was discharged from theCanadian military following the end of the Second World War,Lazaroffworked at Sammy’s, a lunch counter on Eglinton Avenue that he owned for a few years. He eventually worked his wayinto a successful career in real estate at development giantTridel.
Sam Lazaroff at the lunch counter he owned, Sammy’s, in a drug store near Eglinton and Oakwood avenues in the 1950s.
Supplied by Gale MosherIt wasn’t until his 40s in the 1960s — nearly four decades after receiving his first gift box — that Mosher said her parents achieved stability, bought their own home, and began donating to the Star’s Santa Claus Fund and Fresh Air Fund themselves.
“He was eventually able to provide us always with a beautiful Christmas,” she recalled.
Lazaroff, who died in 2007 at 91, became widely known as a giver. Mosher remembers how, in later years, he would take a young boy who lived next door to hockey games. “The (boy’s) family could easily have afforded it,” Mosher said. “My dad just thought the boy would enjoy the game.”
When Lazaroff’s wife was ill, and ended up in a wheelchair, “my dad wouldn’t put her in a home. He looked after her for many years at home and … every aspect of her living.”
Although she grew up with a lot of Christmas presents under the tree, Mosher said the greatest thing her dad — and that gift box — taught her and sister Vikki is was to be kind to others and aware of people’s hardships.
Mosher herself now donates every year to the Star’sSanta Claus Fundand theFresh Air Fundbecause giving to others was “just something that I felt was dear to my dad’s heart that I would carry it on.”
Now that Mosher is older, she feels it’s time to share her family’s story in the paper that has had such a profound impact on her life. In addition to her annual donations and past volunteer work with the Canadian Cancer Society, she hopes to inspire others just as her dad inspired her.
“Remember those that don’t have as much,” Mosher said. “Share your wealth … pay it forward when you’re able.”
The pc28Star Santa Claus Fund
With your gift, the Santa Claus Fund can help provide holiday gift boxes that inspire hope and joy to 50,000 financially vulnerable kids.
GOAL:$1.5 million
How to donate
Online:To donate by Visa, Mastercard or Amex use our secure form at
By cheque:Mail to The pc28Star Santa Claus Fund, 8 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
By phone:䲹647-250-8282
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