Friends of Santa

Announcement:
Friends of Santa has an immediate need for
pre-lit 4 and 6 foot artificial Christmas Trees (and tree skirts).
We also need Postage Stamps
Anyone who can help with these items
please call Susie at
419-425-1328

2007 a Landmark year in spite of the Flood!
Thank you Findlay!
Once again our community's spirit of helping others has prevailed
even in the face of much adversity!
Go to the Holiday News Page for stories from the 2007 effort

Will 2008 be an even bigger challenge?
Maybe so, but we have every confidence that our great
contributors will step up and prevail!

Here (and through the links below) you will find everything you want
to know about our Findlay area Charity.

In case you are wondering who we are, we are, 'Friends of Santa'. Every year we try to help families in the Findlay-Hancock County, Ohio area, have a memorable Christmas season. You can read more about our beginnings below.

There are many ways in which you can help. You could sponsor one or more children or even their whole family. You could pick a wish list off one of our Wishing Trees at different area locations, or donate items there. If you represent a business, we would like to ask if you will allow us to put a Wishing Tree in your location. These are trees with wish lists on them for individuals to choose from. We would also ask that you tell others about us, in the hope that the spirit to help will spread. Every little bit counts.

Let's try to make this a memorable year for everyone!!

'Friends of Santa' is a non-profit organization which has been around since the 1980s. The idea originated with Reg Routson while he was vacationing in New York City. Upon reading in the paper about a similar organization, Reg decided that this would be a good thing to do back home, here in Findlay. So he came home, enlisted the services of Continental Cablevision and started his own Friends of Santa program. Reg ran the charity for about two years until he became a judge in our fair city. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, the Judge "recused" himself from the Friends of Santa operation. At this point, Continental Cablevision was on their own. Continental continued to run the program through the eighties, but stopped in the early nineties when it just became too difficult for them to sustain any support.

Enter Susie Malone. Oh yeah, and me. I'm Dave, Susie's husband and, I guess, her Web Master.
In 1999, our daughter, Carla Sue, was battling cancer. During the course of the year, as a few fundraisers materialized for the benefit of Carla's children, Susie heard about the former Friends of Santa organization and decided to try to get the charity up and running again. Every year since then (with the help of a few friends) Friends of Santa has grown to help more and more families in distress. All of this thanks to the great humanity and good hearted spirit which abounds in our community. It's people like you that make this such a great place to live.

We not only help families with children, but senior citizens as well, so that hopefully everyone can have a Merry Christmas. These people are in need because they lack the means to purchase items due to many different reasons such as health issues, loss of job, loss of spouse or a parent/spouse is away from home due to serving overseas in the military, and many others.

Our organization has been supported by great coverage in the Courier every year as well as being guests
on radio station 96.7 WBVI Thank you Keith and Beth (WBVI's wonderful morning show personalities) for the great interview!

Anyone wishing to become a sponsor can do so by requesting to help from one child to many, or a whole family including the parents, or a senior citizen. A sponsor may also choose an approximate age of children or they may ask to sponsor whomever is in need the most.

If you would like to help, but do not feel you could be a sponsor, 'Friends of Santa' accepts donations of new items such as clothing, toys, and house ware items. We also accept checks written out to 'Friends of Santa' (tax receipts sent upon request), gift certificates or Cards (local super/department stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.), nonperishable food and paper products. Basically anything which you would use in everyday life. Over the years there has even been requests for Christmas trees (live & artificial) & decorations, including lights.

You may also select Wish List Tags off of one of our many Wishing Trees located at several Findlay area businesses all of which are listed on our Wishing Tree Locations page.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, sending a donation, or would allow us to put a tree up in your place of business, please Click here or write to:

Donations by check or cash may also be made at the Findlay branch of the Clyde-Findlay Area Credit Union (419-423-3764). Once again that is the Findlay Branch only. Donations can be mailed to them at the following address;

Families needing help this Christmas in the Findlay, Ohio area can send their wish lists along with the first & last names of the parents/care givers & children who live in the household, their address, & phone number (we must have all 3 of these items for contact & verification purposes) plus children's clothing sizes. Please write all letters on standard sized paper (no spiral notebook paper) in Black or Blue ink. This greatly improves our ability to fax letters to sponsors.

Wish lists will be accepted until Dec. 3rd. If children write to us: we're sorry, but we must have your parent/care giver's permission to help! We cannot call someone else (example: a grandparent) with questions. Unfortunately, we are not able to guarantee all the families will get a sponsor, but we do try our very best to find one for all of those requesting help from us. We would also ask that persons seeking our help refrain from soliciting help from other organizations as well. So called 'double-dipping' reduces resources for other families in need.