Santa Claus Girls

Come say hello to us at the Town Square Farmer's Market!

Today we give a very special thank you to the Bell Bank Project Management Office!

They volunteered their time to mate pairs of socks for us - over 3,400 pair! That surpasses their work last year of 2,900+ pairs. 🧦 🧦🧦

Though we are most visible during the holidays, we work to get things ready all year. We couldn’t do it without teams like this.

We truly appreciate our volunteers!

Looking for a way to support the Santa Claus Girls? We now have an Amazon wish list!

This list has gifts added for the age groups and demographics we need most at this time. The list can change as our needs change!

Thank you for your consideration!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2FOG35ZMIPRU2?ref_=wl_share

We are humbled! Grand Forks Downtown Rotary Club hosted a Wine and Dine event at Ely's Ivy to support a local nonprofit. This year, they selected the Santa Claus Girls! Sixty children this holiday season will receive gift bags solely from the proceeds of the raffle ticket sales!

We are beyond grateful for the wonderful evening of socializing, talking about the program, delicious food and drink, prizes, and all around fun. Thank you to everyone that made this evening possible.

Moms, Dads, Caregivers.....drop your ideas for 10 to 12 girls!!!

Thank you Leighton Media and to everyone that voted for us!

When we first started receiving nominations for this Grand Forks, ND nonprofit we immediately headed to Google to learn more. Because of all who continued to nominate, they edged out others in the area for a Gratitude on Repeat advertising campaign victory!

The Santa Claus Girls is a 501-C nonprofit organization that has been serving the Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN communities since 1916. Their mission is to provide a toy, hat/glove set, a book, toothbrush & toothpaste, small bag of candy, a pair of socks to children aged 12 and under from low-income families during the holiday season who might not otherwise get them. Over 1,625 children in 681 families received a gift bag in 2023 from The Santa Claus Girls. 🎅

"We are extremely grateful to everyone that nominated us for Gratitude on Repeat from Leighton Media! Because of your nominations and the generosity of Leighton, we will be able to spread the word about our organization through advertising!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" - Jennifer Ekberg

📷 (from left to right):
Jennifer Ekberg - Vice President, Santa Claus Girls
Julia Ekberg - President, Santa Claus Girls
Bri O'Neill - Media Consultant, Leighton Media

The holidays may be over, but that means SALES for us! It’s never too early for us to start looking ahead to Christmas 2024 🎄

We would also like to thank Scheels for their donation! We are grateful for your generosity to us and all the nonprofits you support in our community.

We are able to shop like this all year because of the donations we receive - thank you!
🎁 🧸 🎁

We are extremely grateful to everyone that nominated us for Gratitude on Repeat from Leighton Media ! Because of your nominations and the generosity of Leighton, we will be able to spread the word about our organization through advertising!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

We are thrilled to announce the winners of Gratitude on Repeat 2023 – the organizations that have left an indelible mark on our hearts.

🏆 And the Winners Are... [Drumroll, please!] 🥁

Alexandria: Stevens Community Medical Center
Detroit Lakes: Dreams for Kids, Perham
Fergus Falls: Otter Tail County Sheriff's Posse
Grand Forks: Santa Claus Girls
St. Cloud: Tri-County Humane Society
Winona: Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools

These outstanding nonprofits will soon be gracing our airwaves, thanks to your nominations and support. 📻✨

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated, nominated, and shared in the spirit of giving. Your dedication to our community is truly inspiring.

Stay tuned as we prepare to shine a spotlight on these community champions and make an impact together! 🌟🤝

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!

We also are on Instagram! If you like to get your updates there, follow us!

Distribution makeup starts at 8am at the Grand Cities Mall and runs until noon.

If you missed today’s distribution, you can pickup your gifts tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 16) from 8am-12pm at the Grand Cities Mall. Pick up only - no deliveries will be made. Thank you!

The elves are out in the community!

Remember that pickup goes today until 7pm at the Grand Cities Mall!

THANK YOU DELIVER DRIVERS!!! All packages have been shipped out for delivery. HOLY MAN!!!!
We are in awe in your volunteerism.....
Thank you times 100!!!

We truly appreciate all of our donors and volunteers. None of this would be possible without them, and without the support of the entire community.

1,625 children in 681 families will receive a gift bag this year from The Santa Claus Girls.

THANK YOU!

Packing = Done!

Distribution = Tomorrow!

The rockstar American Crystal Sugar employees finished up our bags today for tomorrow’s distribution! Thank you to everyone that helped us to this point, and thank you in advance to those helping tomorrow!

Pickup is tomorrow (FRIDAY) 7am - 7pm at Grand Cities Mall in the HOPE Church youth room. (There will be signs outside of the room.)

Delivery begins at 9am tomorrow.

Time to spread the holiday cheer!

We are grateful for our second year of participation in the HOPE Church Night of Noel! Dozens of “shoppers” stopped in and filled bags for community children. We are grateful to have our home base in the Grand Cities Mall, and Hope is gracious to let us use their youth room on packing and distribution week. Thank you to everyone that helped tonight!

Our dinner break was delicious pizza from Deeks Pizza ! Deek’s is a tremendous supporter of the Santa Claus Girls, and donates a certificate for a free pizza for EVERY family that receives a gift bag - all 681 of them! Thank you, Deek’s!

What fantastic crews we had today from the Ralph Engelstad Arena ! We finished our pickup bags and have started on the delivery bags. Thank you so much for all of your help today and for your support of our program!

Thank you to Alerus Bank employees for helping us pack bags today! They are rockstar packers!

Wow! We had a quite the delivery today from Lieutenant Ryan Panasuk from ND Highway Patrol. SEVEN large garbage bags of toys! We are so thankful for this donation, and thank you to everyone that donated to this toy drive! We can’t wait to spread the love!

It’s day two of the best week of the year!

We are a little over halfway to our fundraising goal of $50,000 - bringing holiday cheer to over 1,600 children this season.

Please consider a donation - any amount helps, and goes directly to the children’s gift bags.

Donate here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_donations&business=santaclawsgirls%40gmail.com¤cy_code=USD&source=urlsource=url

It’s day 1 of our biggest week of the year! What a whirlwind of a day.

From an empty room to a room full of holiday joy in just under 6 hours.

Special thank yous to: Whalens Moving for helping us get stuff in its place! Acme Rentals for the use of the tables! And to Riverside Christian School students for their help today with unpacking and sorting!

Please consider a nomination for our small but mighty program to receive advertising from Leighton Broadcasting!

Nominate here:
https://hubs.ly/Q029-Mxx0