Express looking for ‘Secret Santas’

LOCK HAVEN - You've met quite a few of them as you've strolled through the Yuletide season - You just don't know who they are.

That's because they are " Secret Santas" who take great joy in working behind the scenes to make sure some family, agency or individual has a merry Christmas.

A Secret Santa is the type of guy who shows up to shovel a sidewalk and leaves without ever telling the senior citizen inside the house who he is.

It's the homemaker who bakes hundreds of cookies each year to raise money for some charitable enterprise, or the person who takes time out of his own busy schedule to run errands for somebody who is homebound ... or takes them to the barbershop, beauty salon or a doctor's appointment.

The Express is looking for just that type of person. We believe there are people out there who know who the Secret Santas are. And we'd love to see them receive the credit they so richly deserve for their kind and loving acts.

The Express is conducting a "Secret Santa Contest" to discover these true Christmas spirits, and will be providing a gift certificate at a local restaurant for both the person who submits the name, and the undercover Claus whose story can now be told.

All we ask is that individuals submit a few paragraphs telling us why their local resident is a Secret Santa, and what he or she has done to deserve being named The Express Secret Santa of The Season.

Deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Dec. 10. Contest entries can be dropped off, or mailed to managing editor Lana Muthler at The Express, 9-11 W. Main St., Lock Haven, Pa. 17745. You can also e-mail her at lmuthler@lockhaven.com or give her a call at 748-6791. Make sure you give your name and phone number.

We'll take it from there, judging the entries and publishing the best of them. A story about the winning "Secret Santa" will appear with on the front page of The Express' Christmas Eve edition on Dec. 24.