By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – For 22 years the Atlantic Highlands First Aid & Safety Squad
(AHFAS) has been delighting children in the borough with visits from Old St. Nick each December. And members were determined to continue the tradition in 2020.
With one ambulance pulling Santa’s sleigh and another ambulance, a squad car and the Mass Casualty Response truck tagging along, they had quite the “caravan of fun” bringing Christmas joy to residents young and old, said Richard Huff, president of the AHFAS.
“This is one of our biggest weeks each year for the squad itself just in terms of community interaction and the joy it brings to the residents and the kids,” Huff said.
The squad looked at many ways to keep the tradition going with COVID-19 cases on the rise in the county and across the state, and came up with a plan they felt ensured the safety of the residents, the squad members, the volunteers and, of course, Santa.
In years past, the sleigh would stop on the street and residents could climb aboard to pose for photos with Santa and hand him their Christmas wish list. The AHFAS also uses the event to collect nonperishable food donations for the United Methodist Church food pantry. In 2008, in the middle of a recession, “we realized our fellow neighbors were hurting, our local food pantry at the United Methodist Church was hurting,” Huff said. They have donated thousands of food items in the last 12 years, which has been a special part of the event for the squad members.
“When it’s all over, we load the ambulance up and then take it over to the food pantry,” he said, “but this year we realize, again, how can we make this safe?”
Safety started with the basics. Everyone volunteering, even Santa, was masked up. Residents were asked to wear masks and stay socially distant. Pictures were still allowed and encouraged, but this year from at least 6 feet away, not in the sleigh. Children couldn’t hand their letters directly to Santa, but squad members mounted a mailbox on the sleigh so those wish lists will still make it to the North Pole.
But the food donations were still something that worried the squad. It would be hard to remain socially distant from residents while collecting boxes and bags of food from them. So, this year the AHFAS turned to the internet to create a “touchless” donation process. “On the sled there’ll be a QR code that somebody can just go up with their phone, scan the code, and it takes you right to a GoFundMe page that’s been set up for the food pantry,” said Huff. “By simply aiming your camera at the code, you get to that page and you can donate.”
The QR code and link are also available on Twitter and Facebook @ahfirstaid; a volunteer in PPE handed out candy canes during the Santa Runs with a slip of paper containing the code and link as well. Huff hopes they end up collecting more money this year than food equivalent in prior years. “We’re hoping that may actually result in more financial benefit for the food pantry, that they wouldn’t have gotten other wise,” he said. “Instead of somebody grabbing a few cans of food off the shelf to give us in a bag, they may donate a little bit more.”
After the first two Santa Runs, the squad reached nearly half of their $5,000 goal. The GoFundMe page will be active throughout the season and as long as it’s open anyone can donate through the link.
“At the end of the day, we’re trying to bring some fun to our neighbors while also helping the food pantry,” Huff said, “because there are people who need that help this year and may not get it for any number of reasons. And if we can just, you know, raise a few bucks that way, and know that we can help some families in need, that’s like the icing on this cake.”
The Santa Runs took place Dec. 7-10, with the team visiting one “zone” in the borough each night. The crew used flashing lights and sirens and holiday music to announce their arrival to the neighborhoods. In addition to the QR code and online donations to the food pantry, the AHFAS embraced technology another way: This year residents could track Santa’s location using a special GPS app, so they knew exactly when he would arrive at their house, a bonus for parents with young children trying to stay awake for the visit.
“It’s kind of like our local NORAD Santa,” said Huff, referring to the North America Air Defense Command tracker that shows the world where Santa is Christmas Eve. Huff said it was a nice addition to the process this year.
“It’s the best week of the year for us,” said Huff, who explained that, “as an EMS organization, most folks only interact with us on an emergency basis. So this gives us a chance to get out into the community in a way where our flashing lights don’t mean you’ve been hurt, but that we’re here to celebrate the holidays with everybody.”
This article originally appeared in the Dec. 10 – 16, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
