Santa Cares

 Charitable Santa Request

Thank you for visiting SantaCares.

This special web site is run by volunteers and is only to request volunteer Santas, and/or Mrs. Claus, for charitable, non-profit and special needs visits.  Anyone wishing to obtain a volunteer Santa and/or Mrs. Claus for a special visit, is asked to fill out a request and submit it to our committee.  Please read this entire page before submitting any request.

Our goal is to arrange visits and appearances for:

  • Wounded Heroes Hospital/Re-hab Units

  • U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys 4 Tots Kick-off events

  • U.S.O. Special Requests 

  • Military Unit Special Group Request(for family Groups of deployed units)

  • Special Needs Children’s Group/Association Visit

  • Make-a-Wish® and Medically related child/family visits

Our Mission is to help connect those in need, with a volunteer Santa and or Mrs. Claus who can visit or appear for charitable, military and non-profit groups, that have a special need, or in very special instances, for children that require a personalize or hospice visit.

We accept all requests.  This is not to say that we can grant a request or try to assist in the request.  Everything depends on if we can find a volunteer Santa or Mrs. Claus.  Even if the request does not meet the guidelines we have below, if requested, we will still send the request out to all Santas and Mrs. Claus in your area.  And should one of them be interested in your request, they will contact you.

We do not give out contact information for any of the Santas or Mrs. Claus.

The following information may assist you in understanding what we do.

We are not set up for marketing, commercial or cause-related fund-raising events, such as Galas, Dinners, Concerts, Sales promotions, etc.  These are generally fee based bookings and can be arranged by going to: RealSantas.com.

We generally do not supply Santas or Mrs. Claus for company or organization dinners, Dances or Holiday parties, even if toys or monies are collected for a charity.  However, as stated above, we will be glad to send your request to the local Santas and let them decide.

Additionally, we do not schedule charitable visits to private homes or Santa appearances at schools, as they generally have a PTA or PTO that can sponsor an appearance.

However, we do not judge the requests. We are basically like a clearing house, distributing the requests to Santas in your region.  We have an email list of over 4.500 Santas and Mrs. Claus across America who try to give and donate when it is possible.

We re-send your request and all contact information to everyone in your region or state.  Then we leave it to the them to directly contact you if they are interested.

It would be wonderful if we could supply a Santa for every request, but we can not guarantee that a Santa can be found for the exact day and time you request.  remember that many are working every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day.   However, we will do our best to contact every Santa in your region and see if we can find one who can help.

Before you submit your request, we offer you the following suggestions that we hope will improve your chances of obtaining a Santa:

  • First and most important, please give us as much information as possible, including a description of the event, date and time, number of adults and children attending, location for the visit and most important, supply contact phone numbers and email addresses.
  • We place our highest priority for hospice visits, special needs group or association events.  Please make your request for a group visit or a group event and not a visit to a single child or family.  We may only find a Santa available to make one visit during the season and it would be more practical if Santa’s charitable visit was to many and not just one.  The key exceptions to this, are hospice and special medical needs requests received from Hospitals, Make-a-Wish and similar agencies.
  • Our mission is to supply a Santa.  Unfortunately these are generally retired or volunteers and they do not have the resources to supply toys or gifts.  For this need, you will have to secure another source, i.e.: Toys for Tots, Your local Fire Department, or possibly your church or school.
  • All volunteer Santas are a bit more than just a warm body,  They have invested hundreds of dollars on their custom Santa Suits.  They have also paid a couple hundred dollars securing a national background check and multi-million dollar liability insurance.  And then there is the gas and mileage.  We mention this as there is no cost to have one of our Santas, but if you can give the Santa a stipend to help cover travel and dry cleaning, it would be appreciated.
  • Events in the weeks before Thanksgiving will have a much better chance of securing a Santa, as his schedule is very busy after Thanksgiving and even more difficult as you get closer to Christmas.
  • Making your request for a weekday visit, preferably Monday thru Thursday, and during the day is also easier to fill.  Most Santas are already booked with their regular work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays plus in the evenings.  Visits can be scheduled during any month.  Santa works 24/7/365.
  • For Special Needs, Make-a-Wish and Extreme Wounded Heroes requests, please know that many of our Santas are members of Santa America and have received hospice and special needs training.

Our goal is to find and supply a Santa to make a special appearance for non-commercial events where his appearance can enhance the results of a project or where his appearance adds something special to an otherwise deeply emotional event. 

Click here to submit a Santa Cares request

Once a Santa is available you will be contacted and given a photo, and  contact information.  You will handle all details and coordinate directly with the Santa.  Proof of Liability Insurance and Background Check will be available upon request.

All Santas supporting this work are volunteers and belong to various Santa Associations from across America: , International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, Palm Tree Santas, Mystic Order of Traditional Santas, Long Leaf Pine Santas, Lone Star Santas, Society of Santa, North Star Santas, Peachtree Santas, Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas  and many more.  In some areas, these request are handled by Santa-America, a 501c3, non-profit charity.