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Ten years ago, Herb Elliott was leaving a Christmas party held for the children staying at Youth Emergency Services & Shelter (YESS). Having just finished playing the part of jolly old St. Nick, he was dressed in full Santa regalia and sported a beard he had grown and dyed white for the occasion.

Just then, two small arms wrapped around his legs to stop him. “I love you, Santa,” a little girl told him.

“My heart just about melted, and tears came to my eyes,” said Elliott, an area manager for Kemin Industries Inc. in Des Moines. “The next year (2001), I asked (the company’s owners) if we could have an auction and buy gifts for the kids,” he said. “They said yes, and in fact they very much encouraged that.”

The auction, which raised $2,300 that first year, has become a holiday tradition for Kemin’s Des Moines employees, who last week raised more than $30,000 for the children’s emergency shelter.

Though it’s one of the larger Christmas projects sponsored by Greater Des Moines businesses, Kemin’s fund-raiser is just one of many ways that employees choose to give back during the holiday season, said Shirley Burgess, director of volunteer engagement for United Way of Central Iowa. The organization maintains an online, downloadable database of volunteer opportunities at a variety of nonprofit organizations. (see box)

Nationally, there is a heightened awareness of the need for volunteers, said Burgess, “We’ve certainly experienced that in Des Moines as well, with the number of people calling or visiting the Web site,” she said.

According to the latest survey information from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Iowa ranked fifth in the nation for volunteering last year, with about 37 percent of Iowa adults volunteering in some way. Among mid-sized cities, Des Moines ranked ninth in the nation for volunteering, with about 38 percent of residents involved in at least one volunteer project. Other Iowa communities also have among the highest levels of volunteerism in the United States. Iowa City ranked second in the nation among mid-sized cities, with a 49 percent volunteer rate, and Waterloo was seventh, with 39 percent volunteering. “So Iowa is represented fairly well,” Burgess said.

During the holidays, volunteer opportunities that involve hands-on activities or events such as helping families shop for donated gifts, gift-wrapping items or distributing food at food pantries are popular and typically fill up quickly, she said.

Kemin’s auction, which started out small with homemade goods and handmade crafts, has evolved into a standing-room-only event in the company’s cafeteria led by a professional auctioneer. Items donated for the auction run the gamut from ribeye steaks to one month’s use of a choice parking spot to artwork, and minimum bids on many of the items are $1,000 or more The single-highest winning bid was $3,000 for a painting by Iowa artist T-Bill Andrews.

Last week’s live auction, together with a silent auction held the same day, raised nearly $35,000 in contributions to YESS, a company record. Since the event began in 2001, Kemin employees have raised approximately $150,000 for the shelter.

For many Kemin employees, the event is the highlight of their year, said Julie Schneider, community development director for YESS.

“The employees at Kemin are incredibly generous,” she said. “The auction is followed by a visit by Santa; he comes and brings gifts to all the children at the shelter, and he also participates in a holiday party for kids and families who have benefited from our services throughout the year.”

Kemin is one of several Greater Des Moines companies that sponsor events and raise money for YESS, Schneider said. The need is significant, she said. On average, about 35 children each night, from newborns through age 17, stay at the youth shelter.

“The holidays can be a tough time, she said, “a reminder that home isn’t a good place right now.”

Other Greater Des Moines companies have similar long-standing commitments to their favorite charitable organizations. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., for instance, has organized a toy and clothing drive for the children at Orchard Place, a residential juvenile psychiatric and drug treatment center in Des Moines, for more than 15 years.

“We have great volunteers throughout the year, but I think during the holidays (the gift drive) builds camaraderie,” said Michaela Tamisiea, director of volunteers for Orchard Place. “It’s definitely a way for them to step up to the plate.”

Nationwide employees donate more than 200 gifts each year, both practical items such as hats, gloves and snowboots, as well as toys for the children. Combine that with contributions from about 15 other companies’ employees and individuals who volunteer to purchase gifts, and Orchard Place will distribute more than 750 donated gifts this week.

“It takes a lot of organization and commitment on (the companies’) part,” Tamisiea said. ‘We greatly appreciate everything they do for us every year.”

For those families that aren’t adopted by a company or individual, the organization uses cash donations to ensure that everyone receives a gift, she said.

Those types of adopt-a-family opportunities are among the most popular type of volunteer effort “because there is such a range of how you can participate,” Burgess said. “If you don’t have a lot of time to volunteer, you can bring money, so these probably have the widest participation.”

The need among families struggling financially during the holidays is particularly high this year, she said. As of last week, 90 families had yet to be adopted through one of United Way’s featured nonprofits, Central Place Family Resource and Community Education Center in Pleasant Hill.

Judy Hamlin, an administrative assistant at Central Place, said a number of companies, among them Principal Financial Group Inc. and Kemin, organize groups of volunteers to come in to help with her organization’s annual Season of Sharing distribution of food, toys and clothing to eligible families in the Southeast Polk Community School District. Having employee groups and individuals adopt families and donate items reduces the amount of shopping that organizers must do with donated money, Hamlin said.

There are other events that also need volunteers “right up until Christmas as well as after the Christmas holidays,” Burgess said. “These typically are people who have needs all year long. So there is still a chance to connect with charities to help all through the year, because those needs don’t disappear.”

At Kemin, one of the new items auctioned off this year was a gourmet dinner for 30 that will be prepared by a Kemin sales director, Manuel Duarte, and his wife, Liana, at the winning bidder’s home.

“I like being part of the volunteer action,” said Manuel Duarte, who in June moved to Iowa from Brazil, where he had worked for a company that Kemin acquired last year. In Brazil last year, the couple organized a similar dinner for 400 people, raising about $20,000 for the homeless shelter in the small town in which they were living.

The auctioned dinner, which fetched a winning bid of $2,300, will feature quiche Lorraine and salad, boeuf bourguignon and rice, trout Normand and tarte aux pommes, with all of the food donated and prepared by the Duartes.

In addition to offering a dinner for the auction, “I would like to do an annual dinner and donate the proceeds to charity,” Duarte said. “We used to participate in this kind of thing in Brazil. It is fun to have our friends at the table.”

“It all works because the company is there for us, and in fact encourages us to do it,” said Elliott, who will again play Santa for children at the YESS shelter this Christmas. “A lot of it is that people are willing to open their wallets as well as their hearts.