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Saint Nick Helps Out

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.-Dale Evans Rogers

On all 365 days of the year, volunteer Santas from Santa-America visit children with serious terminal illnesses such as cancer, children who have been through severe traumas, and children whose parents are dying.

Santas are first required to volunteer at a local hospice or pediatric hospital, where they get specialized training in death and bereavement.

The average hospital or hospice visit with a child is about an hour, as compared to the usual one-minute visit with Santa at a mall-and is not just a single visit, but the beginning of a relationship that can last for years as Santa comes back to visit the child again and again. Santa brings a small gift for the child (and gifts for his or her siblings, who often feel forgotten), but more important they bring the children “the greatest gifts of all-Love, Joy, and Hope,” says Santa-America founder and president Ernest Berger (a jovial man with a thick white beard).

On one occasion, Santa Ernest visited a young boy who had witnessed his best friend’s death during Hurricane Katrina and had not uttered a single word since. When the boy sat on Berger’s lap, Santa Ernest said, “I am just here to tell you that I love you, the reindeer love you, all of the elves love you, and that you are a very special boy.” The boy threw himself into Santa Ernest’s arms and said, “Oh, Santa, I thought you and the reindeer were dead-I thought Katrina killed you!” The dam was broken, and the child was then able to start counseling.

Santa Ernest believes that the love and support of a Santa is so profound that it affects children not just emotionally but also psychologically, and there is currently a pilot clinical trial taking place to test this theory in children with cystic fibrosis.

All Santas are volunteers and Santa-America is funded solely by private donantions.

• We will be giving a Christmas Bazaar for our Senior Citizens

• We ask that you send in a gift to donate