Santa Claus is Coming to Town...
is a non profit organization designed to help heal the spirit and soul of children who are living in shelters because of natural disasters, or in Children's Hospitals due to grave illnesses. There are many wonderful charities who help the body when disaster strikes, but who helps to fix the damage done inside when even the most caring surgeon cannot? Santa Claus of course! Santa travels all over the country to displaced family shelters to visit children and families who are suddenly homeless and have lost everything due to a natural disaster. He brings toys, fun and goodies to the children, and parents see their child smile and laugh for perhaps the first time since their whole world fell down on top of them.
Santa visits children confined to hospitals due to the ravages of illness or chemotherapy to give them a chance to just be a kid and play with new toys and to read books to them. Since some of these children won't be there for Santa to visit on Christmas Eve, Santa must visit them on their schedule, not his.
How did this start? Well, we all know the magic and wonder that Santa can bring and he and Mrs. Claus decided that while his annual trip around the world on Christmas Eve is important and certainly can't be interrupted, there is more magic that needs to be spread.
Mrs. Claus told him in no uncertain terms that he is just the man for the job. She and the elves will take care of getting ready for the big night but he must go help all the children and families that need his special brand of "healing power". The power of unconditional love both from Santa and from the children themselves!
So when Santa heard about the tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri, well, he knew that was his first stop.
Santa arrived a couple of weeks after the tornado, not wanting to be in the way of rescue efforts and giving the affected families a chance to recover a little from the initial shock. He went to the displaced families shelter set up by the Red Cross. The moment he came in the door (since the shelter was located in a school Gym, there was no chimney for Santa to make his entrance that way) a little girl no more than five saw him and ran as fast as she could, straight into his arms, shouting Santa! Santa! all the way.