Veteran Denver stage actor Tim Fishbaugh is not playing Santa Claus in a Christmas production this holiday season. But Santa is a role he’s been playing to Denver’s homeless for more than 12 years.

Quietly and consistently, Fishbaugh has set out 14 times a year to deliver sacks filled with turkey sandwiches, a bottle of water, hand warmers and a pair of socks to the first 50 people in need he can find on Denver’s streets. That’s about 8,400 one-on-one connections with people who often feel otherwise invisible.

“A lot of times, people stop and speak to Tim because they don’t have anyone else to talk to,” said his friend, fellow actor and frequent ridealong buddy, Carla Kaiser Kotrc.

Fishbaugh makes up his goodie sacks in advance, mostly at his own expense. Then he’ll drive around, pausing at street corners to drop off his unexpected gifts – sort of like a goodwill hit-and-run. He’ll park and case parks, bridges and encampments looking for takers. If his recipients want to talk, he’ll talk. If not, he moves along quietly – often just leaving bags beside people who are asleep to discover when they wake.

“When we’re in our cars and are approached by a homeless person at an intersection, most of us roll up the windows, lock the door and look away,” said Kotrc. “Tim is not that kind of person. Tim is good at talking with them – but he’s even better at listening to them. He makes them feel seen.”

Then, he’s on to the next. No agenda.

This tradition began in 2010 when the extended Fishbaugh family gathered for a Thanksgiving meal and they were left with so many leftovers, they made turkey sandwiches and delivered them to a homeless shelter the next day. A year later, Fishbaugh and daughter began what has become an ongoing campaign of kindness. When Kotrc joined in 2014, she had the idea to start adding socks.

Without fail, Fishbaugh goes out one Saturday each month – and twice in November and December. Kotrc does not believe he has ever missed a single month. I asked her what she thinks he gets out of it.

“More times than not, Tim and I have teared up driving back to his house after making our deliveries,” said Kotrc, who had to step back when the pandemic hit because of her own health concerns. But she will be back, because she believes the givers get back far more than they give. Even if that means putting up with nasty people who occasionally accuse them of enabling homelessness. That just comes along with the everyday toxicity of today’s divisive modern life.

“All month long you put up with terrible, judgmental people and social-media haters,” she said. “But doing this fills us back up with something that became depleted for the rest of the month – and that is our common humanity.”

Fishbaugh, who retired from his day job at Colorado School of Mines in 2021, is a veteran local actor who has performed all over town. But he has found his forever home at the Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden, where he doubles as house manager. He’s played Mr. Mushnik there in “Little Shop of Horrors,” Herr Schultz in “Cabaret” and is currently starring as the narrator (an adult version of Ralphie) in the company’s holiday stage adaptation of the film classic “A Christmas Story.”

He’s not looking for thanks, praise or even money to support his homeless project (although he’ll take it.) But what he would gladly accept are your plastic grocery bags – and donations of new socks. Nothing fancy – just sturdy white men’s crew socks (one size really does fit all). They can be mailed to or dropped off at 6501 W. 64th Ave., Arvada, 80003.

Fishbaugh knows he isn’t changing anyone’s life by what he does each month. But he is making their day. And that’s something. We should all take inspiration and find our own ways of giving back. As they say in “A Christmas Story: “I triple-dog dare you.”

Note: The True West Awards, now in their 23rd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations.