Signing Santa event returns to Grand Rapids

Santa Claus is coming to town, and he knows sign language.
 
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services will have its 14th annual Signing Santa event for deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing children and their families on Dec. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its new home in the SOMI Unified Sports & Inclusion Center at 160 68th St. SW in Byron Township.

There will be crafts, games, and gifts for every child, thanks to donors that include community members and employee groups at Steelcase and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Corporate sponsors thus far include Meijer, Hungerford Nichols CPAs + Advisors, Sorenson and Quota Club of Grand Rapids.
 
The event is free to attend, but D&HHS is asking that children be pre-registered so Santa’s elves know how many gifts to have ready. Registration can be done at this link. 

‘So much joy’

“Signing Santa brings back childhood memories for me,” says Mickey Carolan, who serves on the D&HHS board. “In the Deaf club where I was raised, my father WAS Santa. The look that deaf children make when they find out they are able to talk to Santa in their language is one that is forever etched in my mind. Inclusion and representation is impactful for everyone, but to an even greater degree for children.”

Last year’s edition drew almost 80 children. D&HHS Executive Director Deb Atwood says her staff looks forward to the event every year. 

"It’s our favorite event of the year," she says. “To see a child who is deaf have that experience with a deaf Santa who literally knows their language takes my breath away every time."
 
The 2022 event included not just Santa but also numerous interpreters so that everyone had access, one of hallmarks of D&HHS. Interpreters were at the entrance, at each of the three crafts, at activities such as a “snowball” toss, with Santa, and for the two signed story times.
  
Erica Chapin, D&HHS community and partnerships manager, says the energy in the room at last year’s event was cheerful and contagious.
 
“Kids were excited to see Santa, of course,” Chapin says. “Families were chatting with one another while the kids played games or opened their gifts from Santa. It was great to see so much joy in one space.”
 
Chapin noted that one family traveled an hour away so their children could interact with a Signing Santa.
 
“They were grateful to have an event like this for their children to attend,” she says.

Strengthening a connection 
 
One of the sponsors is the Grand Rapids-based accounting firm Hungerford Nichols CPAs + Advisors. It became connected to D&HHS through Evan Arnold, the daughter of employee Heather Halligan.

“In high school, she started volunteering at D&HHS at the Signing Santa event to get more involved in the deaf community, as she was considering going to college to be a sign language interpreter,” says Halligan, the firm’s marketing manager.

That involvement led to Megan Howe, an accountant, learning about an opening on the D&HHS board. She was looking for a board position in an organization that she was passionate about.  Howe, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant, enjoys being a part of the organization. She has begun learning American Sign Language, according to Halligan.

“We have a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative at Hungerford, and inclusion of those with disabilities is a focus of ours,” Halligan says. 

Arnold, who wrote about the need to increase entertainment accessibility for the hard of hearing community as part of our Voice of Youth series, currently studies ASL interpretation at Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York.