Rhode Island locksmith hands out hundreds of 'magic' Santa keys for kids with no chimney

WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — The owner of a key business in Rhode Island, alongside his son, is hoping to make the holidays more magical for children with the gift of a 'magic key' from Santa for those kids whose homes do not have a chimney.

In 2013, Jonathan Issa started his own business, 'Jon's Locks Inc.'

He opened his storefront at 2362 W Shore Rd. in Warwick five years ago.

His son, Zachary Issa, started working alongside him after he graduated high school in 2017.

“After the military I wanted to get into something where I could help people," said Jonathan. "I've always been very intrigued with how things work, I've always had a love of locksmithing. I’m on the road. Basically, I do car keys if they’re lost if they need spares. I do a lot of dealerships, I rekey houses lot of repairs on commercial properties."

“I run the shop here," added Zachary. "I have customers come in for duplicate car keys, house keys, fix ignitions, car door locks, just about everything."

Besides making keys for things that run, at the peak of the pandemic, Jon had an idea to help lift the spirits of children.

“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 said. “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."'

That was decades ago.

So when Jon spoke to his mom on the phone about wanting to do something other than a toy drive, the reiteration of that memory turned into a reality for hundreds of others.

In 2020 things were tight, it was stressful times we decided to do Toys for Tots, but along with Toys for Tots I wanted to do something else for the community, I wanted to do something for the children," said Jon. “Being in the key business, we decided we were going to reach out to Santa to make some magic Santa keys for the children.

The first year, Jon said they gave away about 225 magic keys to people.

In 2021, about 200 were picked up and the same went for last year.

“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," said Jon. “Christmas Eve, people will typically put them on their doorknobs on the outside so that way when Santa comes to the house he can grab the key and let himself in with his magic."

The keys are gold and come in multiple shapes and sizes. Attached is 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.'

He was very very eager to give us the keys and to help children especially nowadays," said Jon. “Even in a lot of condos now you might have a gas fireplace but the chimney doesn’t go all the way to the top. “He says he really appreciates the magic keys because it makes his day go a lot faster.

The entire week before Christmas, customers flock to their shop to pick up a free key with no questions asked.

“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," said Zachary.

“It is amazing. The excitement, the smiles, even some of the older children that are 10 or 11 they come in and the amazement in their face is really really heartwarming," added Jon. “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."