GREEN SANTA CLAUS ARE BACK

Christmas is synonymous with sharing and happiness for children and families. Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy it due to difficulties and isolation. Many have to deprive themselves to spoil their children, when it is still possible. Thanks to Secours Populaire, families in difficulty can celebrate Christmas with dignity, with distributions of toys and books.

The « Green Santa Claus » campaign has been back since November 27. It is aimed at isolated people, victims of exclusion and the homeless to celebrate the end-of-year holidays with dignity. On this occasion, 4,000 children and parents were present at the Cirque Phénix in Paris. Among them, there were 50 children and parents from the Marne to share this special and unforgettable moment.

Every year, volunteers dressed in green costumes travel across France and beyond to collect funds, prepare gifts, organize events and support Santa Claus Rouge.

The campaign

While 40% of the population has experienced poverty at this time of year, Secours Populaire calls on volunteers to collect donations for them. The « Green Santa Claus » campaign designed by the Marcel agency calls for action. From December 5, World Volunteer Day, the association whose slogan is « Everything that is human is ours », is launching its most united campaign to encourage as many donations as possible.

Thanks to solidarity and its 90,000 volunteers, facilitators and collectors of all ages, the association acts throughout the world. It can be found on windows such as those of the Grand Rex in Paris or those of restaurants and cinemas… since December 5 with these messages « I give my facade because solidarity needs all forms of donations ». It can also be read on emblematic places throughout the country. Famous people are also its spokespersons. Among them, there are regulars who are there every year like Valérie Trierweller or Anne Roumanoff but also well-known personalities like Pénélope Bagieu, Daphné Bürki, Clemovitch, Caroline de Maigret, Laura Domenge, Florence Foresti, Nina Métayer, Paul de St-Semin, Raphaël Yem and many others.

While at the end of this year, 40% of French people have experienced poverty, the « Green Santa Claus » campaign, imagined by the Marcel agency, calls for help for the most deprived.
Set up in 1976 by the Secours Populaire de Paris, this campaign helps to ensure that no one is forgotten at Christmas. In order to organize the brigade, anyone can join as a volunteer and share a moment of sharing and hope with the most deprived. Each year, personalities transform themselves into Green Santas for those in need. This year, nearly 90,000 volunteers are working to help the deprived. Each of them participates in an associative project in a popular education approach. They initiate material and financial collections, solidarity actions, participate in welcoming people in difficulty, without exclusivity, partisan spirit or borders, whatever their age, by leading cultural workshops, accompanying the elderly by accompanying them on outings or on vacation and by participating in collections.

To become a Green Santa Claus, you must make a donation, you can also drop off a toy at one of the Paris branches or take part in patrols, accompany children in their schooling, drive vehicles, welcome children in the office.

Secours Populaire volunteers can act anywhere, whether in their neighborhood, at their workplace or study or from home. They can be a link with the committee or federation closest to them, collect funds, develop new partnerships or even open a Secours Populaire branch.

This year again and thanks to the donations collected, Secours Populaire is organizing a solidarity meal for Christmas Eve on December 24. and outings are planned to attend the Aladdin show at the Antoine theater.

History of Santa Claus

Originally, Santa Claus was not dressed in red but in yellow and blue. Every year, he crisscrosses the sky aboard his sleigh pulled by 30 reindeer. Only 15 of them, the strongest and most resistant, were chosen to pull the sleigh on D-Day, those who were not chosen, stayed at home in the cold.

In Scandinavian countries, wearing a green garment for Santa Claus was linked to the forest and symbolized the relationship with nature and the change of seasons, he brought green foliage and new gifts at this time of year.

In the 19th century, Santa Claus was represented in green but also in black, white, blue, purple and red, a color in reference to the bishop St. Nicholas. With the colonization of the United States by the Dutch, the legend of « Sinterklas » became « Santa Claus ». Subsequently, the legend with the white beard and his sleigh pulled by reindeer became famous among children, becoming an imaginary character represented dressed in red, accompanied by an elf who helps him distribute gifts. In the 1930s, Coca-Cola chose a Santa Claus dressed in red to represent him.

©2024 – IMPACT EUROPEAN

About The Author

VERONIQUE YANG

See author's posts