It might be cold outside, but this story out of Warwick, Rhode Island, will surely warm your heart.
A father and son are adding more magic to the holiday season for local kids by handing out "magic" keys from Santa for children who live at homes without chimneys.
Jon Issa started his business, Jon's Locks Inc., in 2013, and his son Zachary Issa started working with him after he graduated high school in 2017. They opened a storefront at 2362 West Shore Road in Warwick five years ago, NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR reports.
As locksmiths, they keep busy duplicating car keys and house keys, and of course they fix ignitions and car door locks, too. But in the peak of the pandemic, Jon Issa had another kind of idea that was spurred by his childhood.
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“When I was a kid, Christmas was always a very big thing. We didn’t have a lot of money, but my mother always made Christmas a big event," he told WJAR. “I asked my mother, because we lived in an apartment, 'How is Santa going to get into our house? The chimney doesn’t come into our house.' And she had given me this antique skeleton key and said, 'We’re going to leave this outside and Santa will be able to get into our house with it with his magic.'"
Jon Issa was already doing Toys for Tots in 2020, but he wanted to do something else, too, so he talked to his mom about that memory he had from decades ago.
“I wanted to do something for the children. Being in the key business, we decided we were going to reach out to Santa to make some magic Santa keys for the children," he told WJAR.
According to Jon Issa, they gave away about 225 magic keys the first year, and about 200 the past two years.
“We source the keys, we get the keys ready, cut the ribbon to a certain length, and we print out the cards and we attach them together and give them out the week before Christmas," he said.
The keys, which are gold and come in multiple shapes and sizes, are attached to a poem from Santa that reads:
"This key is very special, you see. It won’t work for you or me. Hang it outside the door, go to bed and worry no more. Close your eyes and close them tight. Santa Claus is coming tonight."
WJAR reports that customers flock to Issa's shop the week before Christmas to pick up a free key -- and both Zachary and Jon Issa say it's nice to see the happiness their "magic" keys bring.
“Throughout the day a lot of frustrated customers, you know, call us. They’re locked out, so I deal with a lot of people who aren’t too happy. So, when these kids come in and I get to see their smiles and their eyes light up, it’s a good feeling to be making kids happy around this time of year," Zachary told WJAR.
“It is amazing. The excitement, the smiles," his dad added. "Even some of the older children that are 10 or 11 they come in and the amazement in their face is really really heartwarming. I served in Iraq and serving in the military in a combat zone is just a very miserable time, and when you come home a lot of those things don’t go away. And to see the smile on these children's faces, it warms my heart and it actually makes everything feel better for that moment."
