For the second year in a row, our Fire Department brought smiles and holiday cheer to children staying at the Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital. On Wednesday, December 21, firefighters and Mayor Lester Miller helped make sure children were able to see and interact with Santa Claus, the Grinch, and the Elf on the Shelf. 

This new tradition started last year, because due to COVID-19 precautions in place at the hospital kept Santa from being able to go inside to see patients. So, the Fire Department put him on their truck’s ladder, along with the Grinch. This year, Mayor Miller joined in on all the fun.  

“This experience was incredible,” said Mayor Miller. “Getting to see the smiles on kids and their families’ faces is something I will treasure forever. I am so proud of what our Fire Department does daily, but this speaks volume of who our department consists of.” 

“We know these children are going to be at the Children’s Hospital probably through Christmas, and it just pulled at our heartstrings they may not be able to see Santa,” said Chief Shane Edwards. “We just wanted to put Santa at the windows of each of these children’s rooms.” 

The idea started at the Fire Department’s Christmas party last year when the firefighters went to look at the Christmas lights Downtown. During that route, one of the firefighters, Lt. Billy Strange, came up with the idea to do something with the Children’s Hospital. Once Chief Edwards gave the department the green light, they worked with the hospital to get this done. 

“We had a group of firefighters come together and pulled resources, off duty, and they got in touch with Santa Claus,” said Chief Edwards. “This is just one of those instances where our firefighters went above and beyond for the community.”