The Problem with Christmas

The new CEO of Catholic Charities, Mike Melara, had been on the job for less than a month and was still learning about the agency’s initiatives and programs. The Incident begins with Mike participating in and assessing the Christmas Program that the agency ran. The Christmas program was essentially Catholic Charities staff playing the role of “Santa” and dropping off gifts to children in need. While very popular with staff, Melara felt ill at ease in the execution of the program especially during a time when the organization was financially unstable.