Santa’s on your street! Houston County nonprofit brings holiday cheer to families in need

Every day this holiday season, Southern Santa of Houston County is hitting the streets to spread Christmas cheer and collect gifts for local families in need.

A team of local firefighters and small business owners were inspired to start the nonprofit in 2020.

Brandon Cox, co-owner of Mr. Ceiling Fan in Warner Robins and the nonprofit’s “Santa,” said they started the initiative to boost morale during the pandemic and show that people care about their community.

Every evening through Dec. 23, the Southern Santa of Houston County team drives a festive fire truck with Santa, his elves – and even the Grinch – around neighborhoods throughout the county from 5 p.m. until about 9 p.m.

They greet families and collect unwrapped, new toys which are later distributed to families in need due to house fires, storm damage or other hardships on Christmas Day.

“Just in the last two weeks, we’ve had like four house fires where they totally lost everything,” Cox said. “I don’t think the community really realizes how many house fires just in Houston County that we have. Every year that number grows the closer you get toward the Christmas holidays and as it gets colder, because people start plugging in their heaters and might fall asleep or in some cases, from their fireplace. Or if they don’t have heat, they might turn their stove on and catch it on fire in the kitchen.”

Southern Santa of Houston County’s reach has grown each year, helping seven families in 2020, about 20 in 2021 and aiming to serve more than 30 families this year.

Every morning, the team posts a turn-by-turn route on their Facebook page detailing where Santa’s “sleigh” – or fire truck – will visit and posts live updates about their location each evening.

“There’s no better feeling than riding through a neighborhood at 6 p.m. and seeing 100 kids in that neighborhood, and getting to put a smile on their face and put a smile on their parents’ faces too,” Cox said. “I think a lady commented on our page the other day that her father had dementia and he was in his 70s, and when we came by, it made his face light up like he was a kid again. It’s the things like that that really drive us.”

Southern Santa of Houston County is primarily seeking unwrapped, new toys for children from ages 6 months to 16 years. Cox said the organization also posts donation requests such as clothes, diapers and hygiene items for specific families in need on their Facebook page.

The organization has three fire trucks which are all privately owned by firefighter Shane Shifflett, one of the organization’s leaders. The trucks aren’t operated by any fire department, but they could look familiar.

“Shane is involved in the movie industry here in the Middle Georgia area,” Cox said. “The big ladder truck that we were in last year was in one of the Iron Man movies and the truck that we’re in this year I believe was from Ozark, the show on Netflix.”

Cox encourages anyone who knows a Houston County family affected by a house fire or other tragedy to contact Southern Santa of Houston County’s Facebook page for more information.

“We’re just excited and blessed and humbled to be able to give back,” he said. “We want to let them know that we’re here to support them in any way that we can, to our best of our capabilities ... Hopefully this can help spark more communities in the Middle Georgia area to do something similar and help those families in need in this time of Christmas.”