Sandy Clause is coming to town, and he’s bringing toys to all the good little boys and girls of Hurricane Sandy stricken areas. Following Superstorm Sandy, Brooklyn resident Michael Sciaraffo decided to take the role of Old St. Nick and play it to his fullest potential.
During the afternoon and nighttime hours, Sciaraffo stuffs a giant red sack full of toys and heads out to storm-hit areas to deliver new toys to children who watched their Christmas gifts float away during the worst storm to hit New York in years.
Sciaraffo tells Weather.com:
“Between the requests coming in for personal visits as well as the influx of donations, it’s been a full-time job… And kudos to Santa, because I don’t know how he pulls it off every year.”
When he’s not serving as Santa Clause, Michael is a full time political consultant.
The project has been so successful that Sciaraffo has nearly stuffed his small apartment to the brim with presents, minus a small area where he keeps track of toy requests and donations. After hearing about his efforts, Sciaraffo says hundreds of donations and toys began to arrive at his doorstep.
Just as we would expect from Santa Clauses own a workshop, the tiny apartment has toys arranged by age and gender, all lined up and just waiting for Sandy Clause to deliver them to lucky boys and girls.
This isn’t even the first charity event Sciaraffo has hosted; he came up with the idea after spending weeks heading up donations for food and clothing via Facebook.
The giving spirit of his efforts have not went unknown. Queens resident Sean Turk heard about Sandy Clause and raised $2,000 from his neighbors to help with the effort. Turk tells the Huffington Post :
“I started it with $500 of my own, and then people just started contributing.”
From secret layaway Santas to jolly men in red suits pouring money into parking meters , the holiday spirit is in full force.