With all of the bells and whistles deserving of his jolly old soul, Santa Claus rode in to Ivanna Eudora Kean High School Saturday morning on the Lima Station fire truck, lights flashing and siren blaring, and spent the morning listening to the wish lists of children who came to enjoy Rotary East’s annual pancake breakfast.
Continuing a tradition that has gone on for at least 15 years, Rotary East, with help from IEK’s student elves and high school staff, served a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, orange slice and juice to over a hundred children and adults at a cost of $5 per person.
Every child received a gift from one of Santa’s elves, with flashing light-up balls being the most popular with boys and girls alike next to the plush stuffed animals and necklaces for little girls.
For an additional $5, kids could even get their photo with Santa, printed on site and delivered in a holiday paper frame.
Although the crowd was not as large as in previous years, Rotarians and elves were full of the holiday spirit. Santa himself said, “On a personal note, this is honestly one of the coolest things I get to do all year. It is such a blessing to be able to bring joy to all those wonderful children.”
Enterttaining the crowd were 26 members of IEK’s choir, who sang holiday tunes such as “Guavaberry”, “Joy To the World” and “O Tannenbaum”. The school’s steel pan band also gave a rousing holiday performance.
Proceeds from the annual breakfast are donated to the school to be used for special projects. Although unsure of how much they had raised, Dennis Stockman, president of Rotary East, said, “Whatever it is, one hundred percent goes to whatever good project they are going to do.”
After four hours of photos and children on his lap, Santa was still all smiles, which could be why he’s called jolly old St. Nick.
