Kids can call Santa soon with Charles City club’s help

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

A direct line to the North Pole to talk to Santa?

It’s coming to Charles City soon.

Kids of all ages will be able to talk to Santa Claus on this weekend before he delivers his presents to all the girls and boys on Christmas Eve.

The Charles City Rotary Club will bring back its “Call Santa” hotline from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.

By dialing 641-330-2322, callers can talk to Mrs. Claus or one of the busy elves helping out the Clauses before talking to Santa. Kids can then tell Santa what they want for Christmas and he’ll find out if they’ve been naughty or nice.

“We’re promoting it as a line right to the North Pole,” said Chris Garden, a Charles City Rotary member.

Garden said the Rotary Club offered the direct line a couple years ago. Garden said the Charles City Jaycees used to do the “Call Santa” line as an annual project and he thought it was a good idea to bring it back.

“Rotary does a lot of good for Charles City and this is just kind of a small project that can be a lot of fun for the kids and also fun for the Rotarians to play the role of being Santa, too,” said Garden.

The Charles City Rotary Club will begin promoting the Santa line this week and Garden said he hopes kids from all over the area can take part in the fun.

“We’ll probably send home fliers with the kids from the preschools and on the buses and stuff,” said Garden. “We’ll kind of have a bigger blitz for little pamphlets for the kids to take home to get excited about calling.”

It’s also a chance for kids who may be shy about sitting on Santa’s lap to be able to talk to Old Saint Nick.

“It’s really neat because the kids really open up a lot when they’re on the phone. They’re not sitting on the lap and intimidated,” said Garden.

Kids can also meet Santa at the Santa House in Central Park from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15; from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 22; and 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 23.

The Charles City Area Chamber of Commerce organizes the Santa House.