By Jaime Goldsmith on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 —

This year was the 26th annual Santa Clothes Program. Santa Clothes provides much needed shoes, socks, winter clothing, mentoring and, a sports ball gift to at-risk children from the Las Vegas valley each Christmas. Santa Clothes is a multi-club service project spearheaded by the Las Vegas Rotary Club and supported by all the Southern Nevada area Rotary Clubs. Santa Clothes could not happen with the help and support of its longtime supporter JC Penny’s.

More than 366 people helped with the shopping and logistics at JC Penny’s. When the kids were done, they were taken to UNLV to play at various stations hosted by members of UNLV’s men’s and women’s athletic teams. Thereafter they were fed lunch and were given an inspirational speech about the importance of hard work and education. When they left, they all received a sports ball.

In 1996 the First Santa Clothes started with 35 kids. The 2021 Santa Clothes Program served 348 children. The Southern Nevada area Rotary Clubs raised the $74,820 needed to pay for the kids to shop at JC Penny’s. JC Penny’s provided all goods at a discount which together with other donations of gifts and food provided goods and services worth $180,795.00. Since its inception, Santa Clothes has provided needy kids with $1,696,696.04 worth of winter clothing, shoes and gifts. The support of all the Southern Nevada area Rotary Clubs will be a blessing to local children for years to come. For more information and a video of a past Santa Clothes project visit
https://lasvegasrotary.com/service/community-projects/santa-clothes/

Merry Christmas and giant THANK YOU to each and every person and Rotary Club who participated in this year’s Santa Clothes Project. We are looking forward to the 27th annual Santa Clothes program in 2022!