It was my first year of being “the troubleshooter” for Operation Christmas.

The Manteca Chamber of Commerce back in the 1990s when Larry Madoski was president launched the endeavor.

It was an idea conceived and led by Patty Parks.

The program was simple.

The Manteca Unified School District would identify 300 youth from struggling families.

The chamber would then secure sponsors willing to take a kid on a $100 shopping spree for clothes and a toy. They had the option of donating the $100 or have the chamber lining up a volunteer to do the shopping.

Two Saturdays before Christmas, families dropped the selected kids off at the Boys & Girls Club.

There they were served breakfast, if I recall correctly, by the Sunrise Kiwanis.

They were then paired with their shoppers, boarded school buses, and then — depending upon the year — were taken to Mervyn’s then either Walmart or Kmart.

My job was to troubleshoot.

It was a madhouse as you could imagine.

The first year in the middle of hundreds of people waiting in line and willing to spend $100 out of their pocket on a youth they had never met before, I had a surprise encounter with a mother who redefined the meaning of entitled.

She was demanding to know why, in a rather loud voice, we did not select her two kids for the shopping spree.

Explaining to her that the school district selected the kids based on their situation in retrospect was an idiotic move.

She simply cranked up her volume and started borderline yelling about her rights.

I was able to get her out of the crowded lobby to the front of the club where she started using variations of the “F-word.”

I’ll never forget the sneer on her face as she got in her car where her two kids had been waiting and drove off.

It looks could kill I would have been six feet under.

After the lobby incident, I told myself never again.

That was to change in a little than an hour’s time.

As the shopper-kid pairs were filing out of the club gym after breakfast, there were six kids left without a shopper.

Two of them were older kids, that were not sixth graders or below as requested. The district asked they be included because they were special cases.

We scrambled to find volunteers among those who had helped prepare breakfast to be last minute shoppers.

That left one — a gangly seventh grade boy who had been sitting off by himself while we were trying to find volunteers.

Out of options, I ended up going with him figuring I could troubleshoot and still shop with a kid.

The bus ride to Mervyn’s was filled with the sound of noisy and excited kids, except the one with me.

The only words I could get out of him was the fact he was a Sequoia School seventh grade despite by non-stop effort to try to engage him in a conversation.

At Mervyn’s, we went to the shoe section as his mom had put shoes on top of his list.

It took a lot of urging for him to finally pick out a pair of basketball-style shoes.

I said he needed to try them on but he kept shaking his head no. Finally, I told him we couldn’t get the shoes his mom wanted him to buy unless he did.

With a dejected look on his face, he sat down and took off his shoes.

I immediately figured out the problem.

“Thank gawd,” I said, “I’m not the only one who wears socks with holes in them.”

For whatever reason, he thought that was the funniest thing to hear from an adult.

That broke the ice.

His socks, to be honest, were more holes on the bottom, than material.

We ended up buying pants, socks, and shirts as well.

On the ride to Kmart, he didn’t stop chattering.

Somehow it came up that I worked at the Bulletin and he asked if he could deliver the paper. That was back when we had just switched to all adult carriers and no longer had youth on bicycles making the rounds.

He seemed a bit crestfallen as he wanted to help his family.

In Kmart, we were looking for a “toy” instead of more clothes.

He wanted to buy something for his mom.

I reminded him this was his day and his mother wanted to make sure he was taken care of for Christmas.

Finally, he stopped insisting on buying something for his mom.

I asked what kind of toy he was interested in?

His response to this day stuns me when I think about it.

He said he wanted an umbrella.

Given that is the last thing one would think a seventh grader boy would ask for, I asked why.

“So my books won’t get wet when I walk to school.”

I let him get an umbrella that he looked at as if it were the greatest thing in the world.

I then relented and dug into my own pocket to allow him to buy a necklace for his mom.

It was only $15 or so, but the Cheshire Cat style smile on his face was worth every penny.

Before we parted ways, I bought him a membership for a year to the Boys & Girls Club.

I wrote about the encounter the following holiday season in a bid to stir up interest among people who might be willing to step up to be shoppers.

A Sequoia School teacher stopped by the office several days later.

She wanted to share a story.

The boy had been in her class but had since moved to Oregon.

She shared how proud he was to have an umbrella.

He also shared how great it was he got to go to the Boys & Girls Club.

The teacher told me the rest of the story.

The father the previous year had taken a construction job in Oregon to support his family with the hope of eventually moving them there.

His mother was battling cancer leaving the son to handle much of the task of caring for two younger siblings.

The teacher then shared how it seemed the time he got to go to the club was the only time he got to be a kid.

It drove home the point you never know what burdens someone else, even a kid, is dealing with and how small gestures can go a long way.

If you are able and get a chance to do so, donate an item such as a jacket or toy to the Stuff the Bus for Kids Sakes collection taking place this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. in the Manteca Walmart parking lot.

They will be distributed to youth from struggling families by the City of Manteca Recreation & Community Services in conjunction with Manteca Unified School District at an upcoming Christmas party.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com