Santa-America and the Autism Society of America have joined forces to better serve the children each organization strives to help.

The partnership will provide Santa-America a network of fellow volunteers from across the country and will offer greater financial resources.

“It gives our current, individual Santas a chance to engage and train new Santas,” Santa-America founder and president Ernest Berger said. “We’re going to select the best 18 Santas to do the training.”

Santa-America—a Daphne-based organization—realized it was facing financial strain due to the struggling economy and began looking for partnerships.

“We looked at least a year ago and said we need to find some relationships, some alliance that could serve our core mission,” Berger said.

The organization—with more than 300 volunteer Santas and elves in 45 states and six countries—visits children with terminal illnesses in hospitals or hospice year round. It also consoles families dealing with the stresses of having a child battle a life-threatening disease.

See the rest of this story in the April 11 Daphne Bulletin.