Robbie was comfortable with delegating. His ego did not get in the way of others under his supervision from having success or positive notoriety for their deeds. Robbie knew he had lots of intellectual and administrative talent among the ranks he currently oversaw. He did not often get the opportunity to develop and unleash the varied talents of others, but as Acting Interim Chief Superintendent, he could. He planned to use his power to empower others under his supervision as much as possible. This included in the holiday event.
Hathaway and Maddox were a great team of detectives and a great team to organized and execute their holiday event. Robbie had already decided that if the event was a success, that the credit would go to Hathaway and Maddox. If the event was not the success that he'd envisioned, Robbie would take the blame since it was his idea to have the event in an unconventional format.
Hathaway and Maddox thought that Robbie was showing great imagination and daring in how he wanted to run the holiday event in an unconventional format. Others may see Robbie as a member of the "old guard", but Hathaway and Maddox knew that under the conventional façade was a man of insight, courage and creativity. They both wanted to do their best for Robbie in making the holiday programming work.
Hathaway was into "do goodery" which Robbie had teased him about on occasion. However, Robbie also admired Hathaway for that aspect of his being, and he told Hathaway that, often. It was these "do goodery" instincts and experience that would help Hathaway guide this event to a successful outcome.
Maddox had gotten involved in several local organizations, even though she had spent just a few years in the community. The combination of Maddox's and Hathaway's community outreach awareness helped them to select worthy organizations to benefit from the holiday fundraiser event. There were a few organizations that benefitted the local police toy, food and coat drive for families that could not meet the needs for themselves for Christmas. There were also organizations that addressed the issues of suicide prevention, addiction prevention, abuse hotline and grief counseling. Robbie had a feeling that Hathaway had included the grief counseling service organization as a nod to Robbie's personal battle with grief after his first wife's death. The subsequent years of related grief had taken its toll on Robbie personally and almost professionally. It also impacted those around him, including Dr. Hobson and Hathaway himself.
Even in an elite and intellectually focused community, the basest instincts of human nature often appeared. Around the holidays, that tendency seemed to be magnified. Robbie had always found it ironic that the overtly happiest season of the year, the traditional Christmas and New Year's celebrations, often brought out some of the worst behaviors between people. To Robbie's judgment, Hathaway and Maddox had chosen the organizations very well and sensibly.
In order to raise funds for the organizations, Robbie and his peers used their collective connections and influence to get pledges and donations from various businesses and individual donors. Dr. Hobson had a number of influential friends and associates and was pleased to be able to make some phone calls and help raise a handsome amount of money for the event.
Dr. Hobson had been a crime victim herself of kidnapping and attempted murder. She also saw the need for the charitable services that they were collecting funds for resulting in many of the victims that passed through her mortuary on a daily basis.
The cultural side of the event Robbie found himself spearheading. First he asked Hathaway if he and his band would provide some music. Hathaway checked with his fellow band members and they were all thrilled with the idea. Robbie asked Laura if she thought that some members of her orchestra would be willing to participate in their event. Laura loved Robbie's idea and took it to the orchestra director. The orchestra director came up with a string quartet, a wind ensemble and a jazz group from within the orchestra's membership to play at the event, on a voluntary basis. The orchestra director in turn recruited some members of a local choir to donate their voices for the event.
Robbie had another musical option floating around the back of his mind. His mentor and at some level friend, Morse, had anonymously funded a musical scholarship at one of the local colleges. Robbie had become acquainted with the administrator who oversaw the "Endeavour Award" musical scholarship through a case he'd been involved with several years ago. The "Endeavour Award" administrator later informed Robbie that two of the recent award recipients would be thrilled to perform at the event.
The venue for the event was offered by a local real estate firm who was having difficulty selling a restaurant where a murder had occurred. Figuring it was a good way to "show' the venue, the real estate people were happy to offer their venue for the event for a nominal sum. The food for the event was provided via donation by several local establishments and on a potluck type of basis. Robbie figured if anything went wrong with the food, at least they'd have his favorite pathologist there to help figure it out.