About Us
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.
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.
She then proceeded to apologize to Santa because that wonderful present he had given her last Christmas, that beautiful doll, was "just gone", she couldn't find it anywhere! With a little tear in his eye but a smile on his face, Santa said "It's all right, we will just have to see what I have in my bag for you today!"
After his helpers took out all the wonderful presents from his bag (actually, truth be known, he had six bags!) Santa took a chair and one by one, the children sat on Santa's lap and talked about everything from being good and helping their Mom and Dad with their little brothers and sisters, to the color of house they wanted because their old one was gone. When each child had told Santa everything they needed to talk about, they were able to pick out two presents.
What about the little girl who greeted Santa on his way in?
She picked out some books to read, and was so engrossed in those, she didn't notice when one of Santa's helpers handed him the doll he had set aside. The little girl didn't say a word (which was out of character for her since she was quite the "Chatty Cathy") when Santa handed her the doll. She hugged the doll still in the box with one arm and Santa with the other. Santa later told Mrs. Claus that he didn't know who squeezed harder, he or the little girl.
After treating all the families and the children (and the Red Cross volunteers of course) to ice cream and wonderful toppings, the mother of the little five year old girl that had become Santa's newest friend told him that the doll was just like the one she had lost. That brought a tear, a smile and a hug along with the realization that this is exactly what he needed to be doing all year 'round.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
2479 Murfreesboro Rd #104
Nashville, Tn 37217
(615) 879-7804
Santaclausiscomingtotown@live.com
