2012 SantaCon had the largest participation to date! 

Every year since we started in 2005 with about 18 Santa’s we have doubled.  In 2011 we could not get an accurate count but know we were around 1000. We were probably in the same ball park this year with our attendance. This year we teamed up with GA Burners & BWB Atlanta to use this as an opportunity to really do some good. 

With the BWB group – we decided that we would approach the bars the month before the event and get them to work with us to raise money for a charity.  We gave them two options – one was to donate to BWB and the other was to donate to LifeLine Animal Project (an animal rescue non-profit).  One of the bars gave to BWB – Sandy Relief Efforts ($125) and five bars give to LifeLine Animal Project($650). We also worked with a group called Lost & Found which help get LGBT homeless teens off the street and setup a food drive for all our participants to give to and we had one local business donate $100 on our behalf to Lost & Found. 

We also asked participants to donate to BWB Atlanta 2013 Projects while there and raised just over $280. So between what we collected beforehand for charity and what we collected on site, this years’ SantaCon Event collected $1157.  Plus an unexpected and very welcome coincidence, all donations to Animal Lifeline were being matched by Anisa International, an Atlanta company.

 We are already thinking of ways to make next year better!  We are going to start talking to the neighborhood association as well as the participating bars two months in advance as well as work on having a toy drive, possibly, as well! 

If you would like to learn more about this project please contact Chw at  chw@dirtysouthernburners.com

> How to create a Project.