Cancler Claus Is All About Community and Giving Back
Paulette and Bruce Cancler have been bringing the Christmas spirit to community members for the last four years. They have used resources such as Facebook to get out their message of caring for others and of giving back to the community.
"We also used an app called 'Next Door' and a lot of people responded to us on the app by donating to our cause," said Paulette Cancler. "On the app, people in a particular area of the city support each other by discussing what the neighborhood need is or announcing activities or events. A lot of people responded to us and gave toys, clothing, stockings, basketballs and more. I mean you name it, and someone probably brought it to the house and donated it to us."
The Canclers usually start hosting Cancler Claus the Saturday right after Thanksgiving.
The tradition started when the family would volunteer at The Guiding Light Mission and help serve food. One year, Paulette suggested that the mission allow her husband to dress up as Santa and hand out presents to the kids. The mission loved it and the rest is history.
"What I do all year long is when I see items marked down and stores have a clearance sale, I buy it up, put it in a big box and see how many stockings we can fill," said Cancler. "We started telling our story and why we do what we do and we were overwhelmed by the community response and support."
With the pandemic in full force and so many lives being affected by the virus, it was more important that the Canclers hosted Mr. and Mrs. Cancler Claus this year more than any other year.
"Even when we were standing outside in the cold, we were still having kids come and sit on a little tree stump that made the Santa Cancler high enough to maintain social distance," she said.
"We usually would have the parents and kids come in the house and take a picture with a cell phone that was connected to a printer and we would print the pictures and give them to those who stopped by to take a picture with us. We couldn't do that this year because of the pandemic," Mrs. Cancler said.
This year, because kids have been so cooped up and their have been so many shootings, and COVID-19 related deaths, people just want to get outside and what better way to do that than to have a Black Santa Claus to show our young kids that Santa is not just a white guy with a big belly.
"It is important to me for Black kids to see that there is a Santa Claus who looks just like them and that it is alright," said Bruce Cancler. "What I am trying to do is to give them a since of pride as Black children."
Bruce Cancler over the years has earned a reputation for dressing as Santa Claus and putting smiles on other people's faces.
"My husband is a child at heart, and he has always been that way," said Paulette. "If he can make someone else happy, then that makes him happy. If he can bring joy to just one person, then it is all worth it to him. Last year we didn't do Santa Cancler because I had two heart surgeries and it just wasn't a good year to try to do it, because there is a lot of work behind the scenes, but my husband put on his Santa Claus suit and went to one of his granddaughter's school because his grand daughter had told her classmates that her Grandfather was Santa Claus.
Mrs. Cancler continued, "He went to a few nursing homes and the United Methodist Community House and I took one-hundred candy canes, and tied a ribbon on them. He passed out candy canes to the senior women. One woman did not have a ribbon on her candy cane and she expressed that she really wanted a ribbon on her candy. Bruce looked in the box of candy canes and there was one more candy cane with a ribbon tied to it left. Something that simple and that small to bless someone with touches his heart to the core and motivates him to continue to go out of his way to put a smile on children and adults faces. Especially during these trying times."
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