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Doctors may not make house calls any more, but Santa Claus does—thanks to the Rent-A-Santa program sponsored by Zonta Club of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Santa, with a full entourage of elves and Mrs. Claus, is available for community events, private or corporate parties, family holiday get-togethers and personal visits with local children, with proceeds helping to support Zonta’s local and international projects. Cost is $100 per hour, and early reservations are recommended, especially for the most popular few weekends before Christmas.

Zonta Club is also seeking volunteers to fill out its ranks of Santas for the holiday event. The club has a supply of costumes and handles all the booking arrangements.

“There’s something about being Santa that brings out the personality in our volunteers,” said Pat Allen, who along with husband Sheldon form one of the most frequently booked Santa couples in the program. “Even people who are shy in person light up when they see the look in kids’ eyes at the sight of Santa.”

“We’re still awaiting confirmations from a number of Santas who have served in previous years, but if the calls continue to come in as they have been doing, we are going to need all the Santa volunteers we can get,” said Barbara Stearns-Cochran, Rent-A-Santa reservations chair. Pat Warford is this year’s committee chair and Pat Allen and Alyce Huff also serve the committee in leadership roles.

Zonta Club is hoping to bring in almost $5,000 with this year’s Rent-A-Santa program—one of the largest fund-raising eventsin the club’s local calendar after the Celebrity Roast and Zonta Golf Tournament. The club uses its money to support Zonta International’s mission of advancing the status of women around the globe.  Internationally, the club’s focus is on health issues and elimination of abuse against women worldwide.

Locally, Zonta Club offers grants to local non-profit organizations which support the club’s mission and administers the Virginia Wrage Memorial grant program to help women who are facing a life-changing crisis. The club also hosts the annual Women in Service Celebration which honors outstanding women from organizations throughout the community, and selects a Young Women in Public Affairs winner to carry the community’s standard in district and, hopefully, national and international competition.

Zonta offer free women’s health screening at its annual Healthy Woman’s Day and has worked for many years with young girls from the Val Verde community, encouraging them to break the cycle of poverty, gangs, drugs and early pregnancy that robs many of their peers of their full potential. In addition to hosting educational and character-building programs for younger girls, the club offers a scholarship to Healthy Kids Club alumnae who go on to college.

“One of the things that makes our Zonta Club outstanding is the community outreach programs such as Rent-A-Santa,” said Chris Miller, local club president. “We make a lot of local children happy while earning money to support our worthwhile causes.” She also lauded the number of club members, spouses and community volunteers who give their time during the busy holiday season to make the program a success.

The club also offered its thanks to Dry Clean Express, 18557 Soledad Canyon Rd., and Minnie Max Cleaners, 23214 Lyons Blvd., for donating the cleaning of all the club’s Santa costumes.

Local residents or organizations interested in reserving a visit from Santa, or prospective Santas interested in volunteering their time, can call Stearns-Cochran at (661) 251-1352 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.