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   It was Christmas shortly after the end of World War II. One of Bedford’s Selectmen noticed the children of a poor family as they watched Santa going into one of the churches for a Christmas party. Though his children were excited, their father held them back as they were not members of the church. The Selectman, Clayton Morril, realized the children’s disappointment and resolved to do something about it.

The result is the Bedford Community Santa Program. This is a unique community program that has operated for more than 50 years under the principles established by the founder, Clayton Morrill. The chief of these principles is that any child in Bedford can be visited by Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, and be presented with a special Christmas gift. The program is a very large community volunteer effort with over 300 dedicated current and former Bedfordites supporting Santa’s visits. Expenses are covered by generous donations; no town funds are used by this program. (Learn more about making donations through our donations page.)

If you are a Bedford, MA, USA resident and would like to register your children (recommended age 12 years old and younger) to participate in this program to receive an in-person visit from Bedford Santa, we ask you to respond by registering with the appropriate information that will be used to help plan Santa’s visits. As you know, Santa has a very busy Christmas Eve schedule; our advance planning for his extra visits will make his evening move smoothly along.