The Bay Area Proud series has profiled close to one thousand people since its inception in 2012. All of them have one thing in common: they are people who have done something nice for someone else.
Still, even among all those do-gooders, Rich Santoro stands apart. Thanks to his hard work, passion, and creativity, Santoro has been the subject of multiple Bay Area Proud stories.
We first met Santoro in 2012 after he had made a name for himself by planting thousands of bulbs yearly in his backyard and when the flowers bloomed, welcoming the public to enjoy the show.
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People loved Santoro’s garden and off-the-wall energy and Santoro reveled in the attention he received as the “Bulb Guy.” It was the perfect relationship.
"The affirmation. I think that's what drives me is just a little bit of this,” Santoro said while mimicking a pat on the back, “and that goes a long way.”
Even though people would often offer Santoro donations to offset the cost of his garden, he would always turn them down. It was never about making money, Santoro swore. Watching people enjoy his flowers was payment enough.
But then one day, Santoro thought about his son, nicknamed “Boom.” Boom passed away from cancer at the age of 6. It dawned on Santoro that his garden could do more than make people happy, it could help children with cancer.
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So, he began using the garden as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It was a win-win for Santoro, he got the attention he enjoyed and sick children got the help they needed.
“Other people benefiting from my selfishness,” he said. "I think that's kind of a way to explain it. It's a little self-serving. But then all these people benefit from what I'm doing. And that's great. I mean, that's a great thing."
Which brings us to Santoro’s next fundraising brainstorm.
While at his job selling concrete two years ago, Santoro walked up to a coworker named Lisa and flashed his Will Ferrel-themed Christmas socks. She responded by singing “Jingle Bells,” and a light bulb went off for Santoro.
"So I go to CVS, and I buy a Christmas card with the jingle bells recording in the car. And I come back and cut out the recording and I put it in my socks, flip it over, go to Lisa's office,” Santoro said. “Lisa, we invented jingle socks!”
The idea was taken to a new level about a year later when Santoro was flipping through a holiday shopping magazine and spotted a pair of sports-themed socks.
“They're football socks and they got their green and got white lines. And I'm looking at the socks. I'm saying those socks should be yelling, 'Touchdown!” Santoro said. The ideas kept coming. “Golf socks that say “Four!' or 'In the cup!' And then the big one. soccer socks that yell 'Goal!’”
So Santoro created a pair of 49ers-themed socks with Joe Montana on one and Dwight Clark on the other, playing audio from “The Catch.”
Santoro dreams of the day when they’ll be handed out at Levi’s Stadium and Oracle Park to make money for St. Jude but also keep the memory of his son alive.
"Yeah, it all goes back to Boom. It's a way to keep our son alive. I mean every parent who has lost a child wants somehow to have him remembered,” Santoro said.
And if the sock idea takes off and money for research is raised, there may even be a parent one day who doesn’t lose a child.
Santoro would love to be famous for that, too.
