If anyone has a Santa hat big enough to fit a four-story, 86-room building, let me know.

And we might need a big ladder, too.

This Christmas season, it would be nice to award some type of ceremonial Santa headdress to local community members who are giving back to the Miss-Lou, and I’ve found one already.

You probably didn’t notice, but employees of the Hampton Inn strayed from their property a few weeks ago to do a little gift giving.

Their gift was a freshly painted bridge, a string or two of garland and a few Christmas lights.

Their recipient? Well, you, of course.

Hampton Inn General Manager Janelle Williams came up with the idea to donate the money and time needed to repaint the bridge on Canal Street that crosses the railroad track.

The bridge is city property and technically the responsibility of public works, but Williams saw a need and acted upon it.

She called the city, asked if it would be OK to paint the bridge and put up some Christmas decorations, got approval and went to work.

Two of the hotel’s maintenance men worked eight-hour days for five days to complete the project. Hampton Inn bought the black paint as well.

A bit more garland remains to be hung, but the hard part is done.

Williams said she simply scheduled the project for hours that were somewhat slow for her employees. Their time away from the hotel didn’t hurt anything, she said.

“We felt proud because we were out there doing something,” she said. “It makes the staff feel like they are a part of the community.”

But Williams really hopes the Hampton’s work might spur a few more community projects.

And City Engineer David Gardner said the city would welcome the helping hands.

The gazebo on the bluff and the colonnades at the visitor center both need a fresh coat of paint, he said.

Flagpoles could be painted and parking lots could be striped too. And even small repairs to city-owned buildings are needed, Gardner said, like shutter work or roof repairs.

And last, but certainly not least, the city needs help with trash pickup.

The public works department has a list of all of the city needs, and uses our taxpayer dollars to pay full-time employees to tackle issues, but all too often the small projects get pushed to the back burner, Gardner said.

“It’s not a high priority when we are trying to just shore up our streets to prevent things from (later) costing tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. “You convince yourself that we can wait (on the small things), because you don’t have a lot of money to go around.”

Gardner said it’s ideal when a business or civic group wants to tackle a city project. But he does ask that any group interested in working on city property first contact his office (601-445-7520) for approval. The city does have to consider the liability of having non-employees working on projects, he said.

The Christmas season provides so many ways to help and so many needy causes.

But as members of the same community, we shouldn’t overlook the simple things like painting a bridge or cleaning a street.

After all, this is our community and we all benefit from such a gift, no matter how small it may be.

Julie Cooper is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.