Santa on the Streets
"Santa en las Calles" - Miami , USA

Santa en las Calles, is a community service initiative started in Caracas, Venezuela on 2006 by Carlos de Veer that consists of collecting food, clothes and toys for the needy and then gather one day of December to go out on the streets and give those items to the homeless and people in need living in the city. After the first Santa en las Calles in 2006, Venezuelans across the world took upon de Veer's initiative and made this event global. In 2007, it took place in different places across South America and Europe, and this year a group of Venezuelan in Miami, decided to join the now global Santa en las Calles initiative and make it happen in our city...this is how we got started...

Santa en las Calles Miami, USA, was a success! Under the direction of Morella Pacheco, we collected toys, and clothing items that filled about 10 cars. The toys were wrapped and sorted by age and gender, as well as the clothing items. We met at Roco 4x4 in Doral, FL on the evening of Dec. 12 to finish wrapping everything, and sorting all the clothing for the now global event.

Saturday Dec. 13, we made our way to the Camillus House in Homestead, FL where the children received a double surprise -- not only did they each receive a present, but they got a visit from Santa Claus himself. The children gathered when they saw us arrive with all the presents neatly wrapped and sorted; and they looked in awe when they saw Santa Claus arrive seated in the back of a big 4x4 Jeep.

Santa spent about two hours handing out the presents to the children whom he called each by name, since he had a special present for each one of them. They also had the opportunity to have their picture taken with Santa.

In addition to the presents, clothes were distributed among the children and their families.

After our visit to Camillus House, we drove to the streets of Downtown Miami where we distributed everything else we carried in the trunks of our trucks. We gave clothing, shoes, shirts and blankets to the homeless in and around the Miami Rescue Mission and others around Downtown.

Seeing the faces of the children and the adults as they received something was so rewarding, it cannot be explained with words, but we are certainly ready for next year.

Click here to see the pictures, and come back soon for more!
(Photos by Mariana Guerrero)

contact us at help@santaonthestreets.org or santaenlascallesusa@hotmail.com