photo by: Sara Hemphill

Members of the Blue Santa Program pose with Santa Clause in December 2024.

Santa Claus may be the inspiration, but his work schedule is no longer the model for a local program that uses law enforcement officers to provide gifts for families in need.

While the jolly elf is known for working one day per year, local law enforcement leaders have recently decided that the community’s Blue Santa program needs to be in operation throughout the year.

The Lawrence Police Department started the Blue Santa program in 2011 where each holiday season officers worked to identify children in need and ensure that they had presents to open on Christmas and festive food on the table. Now the program has expanded to include deputies at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and is no longer limited to just the holidays, said Deputy Laurie Powell with the sheriff’s office.

“Now, we offer holiday cheer 365 days a year,” Powell said.

photo by: Sara Hemphill

Children color during the Blue Santa holiday event in December 2024.

Blue Santa is now a dedicated officer referral charity program. Frequently, when an officer or deputy is out interacting with the community they identify a resident in need, Powell said. Where officers or deputies would sometimes try to fill that need on their own out of their own pockets, officers can now turn to Blue Santa and refer the resident for assistance.

“As part of our mission to strengthen the bond between law enforcement and the community, we want these interactions and requests to occur organically,” Powell said.

She said the program doesn’t take direct referrals from residents but only from officers who encounter a need while in the field.

“Among those we’ve assisted was a family whose home burned down, and as a result, they lost all of their belongings and assets,” Powell said.

In response, the program first gave the family a gift card to pay for immediate needs but soon realized that food and shelter weren’t the only things the family lost.

“We also saw how the incident affected the children, so we replaced a very sentimental American Girl doll, as well as a Nintendo Switch,” Powell said.

photo by: Sara Hemphill

A child colors an ornaments during the Blue Santa holiday event in December 2024.

But Blue Santa doesn’t wait around for disaster to strike. Sometimes, officers recognize residents who are struggling through the demands of daily life, Powell said. An officer once referred a 17-year-old high school student to the program who was working two jobs to support his family, which included an infant.

“The teenager did not have a valid driver’s license but he needed to drive so he could continue to provide food and shelter for his family,” Powell said.

The program funded the boy’s driver’s education course so he could obtain a legal driver’s license.

Since the start of the Blue Santa Program, thousands of residents have gotten support around the holidays but now the program is able to help even more, year-round.

“We believe expanding our reach to the entire county will help us assist not only more families, but continue to strengthen the relationship between the community in all of Douglas County and law enforcement,” Powell said.

Residents who want to donate to the program can visit lawrencebluesanta.org/get-involved/.

For a more interactive way to donate, Blue Santa will host a Murder Mystery fundraising dinner on June 14.

photo by: Sara Hemphill

Families receive holiday packages during the Blue Santa event in December 2024.