Santa Claus raises enough for 4 $1,000 scholarships to first responders

Santa Claus is Coming to Grundy County’s annual An Evening with Santa event was a resounding success undeterred by the rainy weather, as it raised enough money to provide four $1,000 scholarships to local students studying to become first responders.

Scholarship recipients include Keaton Auwerda, Isabel Lawson, Kaitlyn Fowley, and Rylee Glagola.

Santa told the Morris Herald-News on Thursday that he was excited to see over 1,000 visitors at the Dec. 16 event, and he was thankful to all the event sponsors for making such a day possible. He also thanked First Christian Church and Pastor Scott Zorn for allowing him to take over the church for the day.

An Evening with Santa was full of activities for the kids, including clowns painting faces and another clown making balloon animals. There were also Christmas characters for the kids to see, and Butch and Paulie worked with people from the Morris Library and Sheriff Ken Briley to read stories to all the kids.

Santa also thanked the Knights of the Innocent, Coal City and the Village of Mazon.

Santa Claus is Coming to Grundy County is a 501(c)-3 organization that’s grown from past years, and is now partnering with the Community Foundation of Grundy County.