Credit: Upper Moreland Townnship.
Residents of Upper Moreland might hear sirens before sleigh bells as Santa makes his yearly fire-truck tour through the township.
Santa is set to visit Upper Moreland Township on Sunday, Dec. 7, bringing holiday cheer, and treats. Residents are also asked to donate to a good cause for a special toy drive.
Upper Moreland residents can look forward to a festive and memorable afternoon as Santa Claus makes his annual visit through the township. The jolly visitor from the North Pole will be traveling through local neighborhoods aboard a fire truck, greeting families and spreading early holiday cheer.
This year, residents will be able to track Santa’s journey in real time. Organizers have released a QR code that allows community members to view his full route and follow his progress live as he makes his way through Upper Moreland.
You can also track Santa live here.
Families are encouraged to step outside, wave from their porches, and enjoy the excitement as Santa passes by.
Following his neighborhood tour, Santa will make a special stop at the Upper Moreland Fire Department, where he will be joined by members of the Upper Moreland Police Department. From 3 to 5 p.m., families are invited to visit the firehouse for photos with Santa, holiday treats, and a chance to meet local first responders.
In the spirit of giving, visitors are asked to consider bringing a new, unwrapped toy to support the Make Every Kid Happy Toy Drive, a local effort that helps brighten the holidays for children in need throughout the community. Donations will be collected at the firehouse during the event.
About Make Every Kid Happy Toy Drive
Calvin Grasso is a student at Upper Moreland Intermediate School who loves his family, friends, dog Kool Aid, sports, Legos, the boardwalk, waterparks, roller blading, video games, stem boxes and of course, You Tube. He is always up for a good joke or riddle! 4 years ago, when he was only in 1st grade, after learning about gratitude, appreciation and those less fortunate around the holidays he had a wish to ‘Make Every Kid Happy’ and be sure he found a way that every child enjoyed the season feeling loved, cared for and woke up with a smile on their face. After we talked about how not everyone may get gifts for a million varying reasons or situations – this was his idea. After our chat about it, he stopped and thought for a moment and his only question was, ‘well how do we get them all presents then – what can we do?’ ❤️ His idea was really to Make Every Kid Happy and each year – he has done just that.
Calvin partnered with our friends at the Upper Moreland Police Department & Toys for Tots to make that wish come true and we ran with it! Over the years he has collected an amazing amount of donations with help from family, friends and the community which go directly to local families in need by sitting at storefronts on the weekends to collect during the holiday season. Each year, our partners grow in numbers from the police department, ArtWare Gallery in Abington, 5 below in Willow Grove, Pure Barre in Upper Dublin, and even Thompson Toyota in Willow Grove with special guest advocate Jon Kruk who came and met fans and signed autographs at our drive!! We hope to make this year bigger and better!
Calvin himself chose the original sponsors, makes the flyers and sits with his parents and has collected thousands of toys over the years that are helping in the local community and Toys for Tots. The Upper Moreland Police Department shares our donations with local families, shelters, schools for children with special needs, foster children, churches and schools with unsponsored children, families who have had a crisis, sick children, mental health facilities, routine 911 calls and the list just goes on and on across the entire county and even neighboring counties who have run out of toys for their own in need that Upper Moreland shares and invites Calvin to help pass them out so he can see firsthand where his hard work and big heart goes. We also have pre-addressed and pre-stamped holiday cards out during collections to sign and we send to our troops. We donate to all families, religions, situations – whatever you celebrate or need!
He has earned awards and recognition including a House of Representatives Citation (from our very own House of Representative Nancy Guenst located in Hatboro), as well as a Citizens Proclamation from the Upper Moreland Township and the Commander Award from the Toys for Toys US Marine Corps Reserve and recognized by his school district for his hard work and community help.
