Santa Shows Up for Refugee Friends

Nearly 17 years ago, a young child, who’d just arrived from South Sudan as a refugee to Tennessee, asked us why Santa Claus skipped his house at Christmas, but went to visit other children at his school. Like many refugee families, the American tradition of Santa Claus wasn’t a luxury his parents could quickly adapt into their new life here in the United States. Yet for kids, it could be one more reason they felt excluded from the fabric of the community they’d found themselves in. Our annual holiday welcome party began that year, starting with just 20 children and their parents. It provides each child the chance to meet Santa, play games, meet their American neighbors, and of course, get a gift from Santa. In the time since, it’s now a gathering that hosts around 500 newly arrived refugee and migrant friends.

We knew a gathering of that size, let alone any size, would not be possible this year due to COVID-19. But we also knew that in such a tough year for all- nonetheless refugee families- we couldn’t let this moment pass without some form of celebration. That’s why you all helped Santa make more than a 100 house calls this year to refugee and migrant families who’d been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. By providing the remote control toy cars that he delivered as gifts and the supply kits for moms (umbrellas and laundry bags), you all enabled Santa to show up for families with a message of welcome, love and a reminder that even though we can’t be together, we can still stand with each other.