Globe Santa Fund drive gets underway

Thanks to a total of $38,586,348 contributed over the years by thousands and thousands of people, Globe Santa has been able to provide gifts for 2,599,755 children from 1,006,92 families. The total number of gifts distributed among the children over that same period was about 13 million.

Because of the poor economic conditions in recent years, however, Globe Santa has seen an increased demand for help while contributions have decreased.

As a result, this year Globe Santa has been forced to reduce the number of communities in Eastern Massachusetts he will be able to serve this Christmas Day. In 2009 Globe Santa provided gifts for 55,815 children in 171 cities and towns, but this year, unfortunately, because of lack of funds, he can provide gifts for children in only 168 communities and thus is unable to have gifts for families in Haverhill, Lawrence, and Lowell.

The 2009 figures, however, are in sharp contrast to the first Globe Santa campaign in 1956 when the number of families seeking his help was 6,200.

The children who do receive gifts from Globe Santa range in age from birth to 12 years. The letters requesting assistance from Globe Santa come from parents or guardians of children in need and are initially processed through one of 129 certified charity organizations before being sent to the Globe. The deadline for such requests was earlier this month.

Since that date the Globe Santa staff has been working to cross-check requests and organize them by age. Once approval is completed, the request is then forwarded to the Globe Speciality Products facility in Millbury. It is there the gift packages are assembled and prepared for distribution to the families by United Parcel Service.

These packages are prepared with the age and gender of the child as the prime guidelines. The gifts being distributed were bought several months ago, which was the time manufacturers started marketing the lines of toys and other products they would be offering for the 2010 Christmas season.

Meanwhile, Globe Santa and his helpers — many of them prominent political leaders, as well as Greater Boston business, media, and sports personalities — will have another busy season of participating in special fund-raising events and making visits with Globe Santa and his sleigh to various parts of Boston and its suburbs.

On Friday, for example, Santa will be at the Copley Place Atrium from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and his guests will be Randy Price and Bianca de la Garza, news anchors at WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) in Boston. On Saturday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a long-time Globe Santa supporter, is scheduled to join him at Faneuil Hall.

Because the Internet is such a big part of peoples’ lives today, the staff of Boston.com, the Globe’s Internet site, will be playing a much bigger role in helping to make the Globe Santa Fund drive a success. Not only will users be able to keep up to date on Santa Happenings, but they also will be able to search the list of contributors to see if their donations have been published in the Globe, as well as online.

The Boston.com site will also be able to publish photo galleries created at sleigh visits and fund-raising events.

One of those fund-raising events will be the annual “No Rest for the Wicked Funny,’’ a 24-hour comedy performance held at the Improv Asylum on Hanover Street in the North End from 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, to 8 p.m. Saturday.