Another successful year for the Flying Santa

Edward Rowe Snow

The Flying Santa to New England's Coast Guard stations and lighthouses has successfully completed the 2010 flights -- the latest in a tradition that dates back to 1929. Maine pilot Bill Wincapaw started the flights as a way to say "thank you" to lighthouse keepers and their families, and the popular historian Edward Rowe Snow became involved in the mid-1930s and kept the tradition going through 1980.

Today, the nonprofit organization Friends of Flying Santa runs the program with visits to more than 30 Coast Guard and civilian locations in the Northeast. The tradition continues primarily as a way to say thanks to the Coast Guard families who do so much all year.

Santa at Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor, NH

Much of the expense of the flights is donated, but it still costs a good amount to keep the tradition going every year. Your donation of any size to Friends of Flying Santa is greatly appreciated by those who run the program and those who benefit from it.