December 26, 2002

    The 2002 Santa Program was another community hit.  Program coordinator Lt. Scott McLain stated "We reached out to more than 2,500 residents in just 18 nights this year.  With only two rain outs (which were made up on other nights) the program ran rather smoothly."  This year volunteers from East Lake High School's Interact Club, run by Holly Hartman, assisted Santa on many nights.  We were also joined one night by Kelly Swoope from ABC Action News. 
    A record amount of money was raised in 2002.  As usual we will be presenting a check to the Shriner's Burn Camp at our annual meeting in January 2003.  In addition to raising money, this year we began collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots" program.  Toys were received at station 57 as well as picked up by Santa on his nightly stops.  "The toy donations far exceeded our expectations this year", stated McLain.  One individual this year purchased 13 new bicycles and a load of toys from our local Target store.  When the Toys for Tots representative arrived to pick up the toys, she was overwhelmed and had to call for a backup van to help haul away all of the toys.  We would like to thank all of those who participated in this year's program and look forward to a bigger and better Santa program in 2003.

	Kelly Swoope ABC Action News