It may be crunch time at the North Pole, but Santa took a break from the workshop to visit Saint Mary's College with one of his elves Sunday morning as part of the Dance Marathon's Santa Breakfast Fundraiser.
The event was hosted in the Stapleton Auditorium and was attended by not only College students, but also members of the local community.
"We had a really great turn-out," Dance Marathon president Kelly Deranek said. "We had lots of families in the community attend as well as students. We expected a lot of people, but we had even more than we thought we would."
Deranek said there were many members of the community and children from Notre Dame and Saint Mary's ECDC (Early Childhood Development Centers).
"The kids were all very excited to see Santa and make crafts," Deranek said. "The kids asked Santa all sorts of questions."
Santa visited with the guests, but gave special attention to the kids. All of the kids took pictures on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas.
"One little boy wanted to know how he got down the chimney and what his elves were doing," Deranek said. "It was fun to see the kids interacting with Santa."
Geared towards families, the Santa Breakfast offered opportunities to make ornaments, candy cane reindeer, mini-Christmas trees and mini-stockings for the children who attended.
Guests were served pancakes, sausage and eggs all made by students. Target, Meijer, Krispy Kreme, Studebagels and Gordon's Food services all made contributions for the event, Deranek said.
Dance Marathon raised over $350 for the Riley Children's Hospital from this Santa Breakfast, and raised community awareness for the cause.
The event was so successful that it may become an annual event, Deranek said. She believes that the event could become even bigger for future years.
"This event was a great fundraiser for us," Deranek said. "The event focused on Christmas and having a fun breakfast with Santa for kids, but in doing so we were able to raise a lot of money for Riley Hospital."
