We all know that Santa is faster than the speed of light on Christmas Eve, but an energetic group of Fort Smith residents gave the jolly fellow a run for his money recently during a fundraising Santa Run.
This is the third year for the Paul William Kaeser (PWK) High School Santa Run — a fundraiser that helps the Fort Smith Food Bank during the Christmas season.
The event was the brainchild of PWK teacher Anna McDonald, who became inspired by a Santa Run she saw online three years ago during the Covid lockdown — a time when many staff couldn’t fly home for the holiday season.
“I wanted to do something fun with staff and get them into the Christmas spirit,” McDonald said of the inaugural five-kilometer fun run that saw 12 Santas participating and raising money for the Children’s Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Then last year, while McDonald was a Grade 11 and 12 physical education teacher, she said part of her curriculum was for students to plan a community event that would promote physical activity.
“I thought this would be a good way to integrate the two ideas: taking the Santa Run, integrating it at the community level, and then have it completely run by our students,” McDonald said.
The students became responsible for the run logistics, including getting Santa suits for participants. McDonald said a donation from the Mackenzie Recreation Association helped offset the cost of the Santa suits purchased from the Hay River Dollarama, so there was no overhead cost to cover.
Students then had to determine who would receive the funds raised by the event and decided they wanted to help their own community, so they chose the Fort Smith Food Bank to benefit, McDonald said, adding that more than $1,500 was raised.
“They felt great about it. They were taking charge of it for their community,” she said of the enthusiasm.
“It was super awesome to see,” she said of the event, which saw 50 Santas running through the town despite last year’s very cold weather.
“One hundred per cent of the proceeds went to the food bank,” she said.
This year, the Santa Run was held during the last weekend of November, and warmer weather brought out not only the walking and jogging Santas, but also entire Santa families with Santa children in strollers — 62 participants in total, McDonald said.
In planning for this year’s event, students took part in the registration process, which was run from the yurt in the cultural centre area of the school, which also marked the starting line, she said.
Students prepared warm tea, bannock on a stick and hot chocolate, which were waiting by the outdoor fire for all the Santas as they crossed the finish line.
One important thing about the event, McDonald said, is that everybody in the community can be involved, regardless of the ability to pay the registration fee.
“Everyone is able to come down and participate in the run. People can donate what they can at the time,” she said.
And each year now, she said they have a goal to add “one more thing” to the event, noting that this year, kilometre markers were added to the mapped-out trail.
“We are gradually making it into a bigger event, to make it feel like a run people would participate in down south.”
And for the fastest Santa? They have the honour of having their name engraved onto the winning trophy. And everyone involved gets to feel the Christmas spirit of giving and helping during what can be a difficult season for many.
“It is a great time and a nice way to give back to the community. The town has been really helpful — we’ve been getting great feedback. And the students have pride in the event,” McDonald said.
“And everyone gets to keep their Santa suit.”