The CLAUS Project was founded in 1988 to provide Christmas gifts to children who would not otherwise receive a gift at the holiday time. Some families are working poor, some are homeless or in shelters and some are teenage mothers and their children in the greater Trenton and Princeton, NJ area.

Whenever possible, CLAUS' primary goal is to enable children's parents or grandparents to be their child's gift giver or "Santa" rather than to credit an unknown person... Four women supervise the collection and distribution of the children's names and wishes each year, with the assistance of many others.

Wish lists consisting of two items are solicited from each child/teenager through their social service worker, shelter director, church staff member or other individuals with whom these families are in regular contact. The value of each wish should not exceed $40 and every attempt is made to collect clothing size and doll ethnicity where relevant.

Volunteer 'Santas' are then assigned to each child. Santas take anywhere from one child to all the children in a family, while groups and organizations take varying numbers of children. Santas purchase, wrap and deliver the gifts to their CLAUS committee member. Gift tagging is done according to specific instructions to ensure the parent can step into the role of the giver.

Deliveries are made to the shelter, church or social worker prior to Christmas and then distributed to the parents/grandparents as close to Christmas as possible.

CLAUS welcomes all Santas from schools, churches, offices and the community at large.