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Grain Valley residents who are middle aged likely remember being taken to the mall or some community gathering for the chance to visit with Santa Claus. One of Grain Valley’s unique and great traditions is that Santa Claus will come to your neighborhood. Thus was the case for Jack and Daley Philbrick. The Santa Bus came to their neighborhood over this past weekend. They were able to meet jolly old Saint Nick and share with him their Christmas wishes. It’s a lot to take in for a kid of any age. There’s the police escort by VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service) making sure that everyone knows to be safe as Santa is seeing important guests traveling to the bus by foot. Not to mention the bright red and green paint job of the bus, complete with a reindeer on the hood and wreath on the grill. And if all of that is not enough, there’s the festively decorated inside of the bus with Kris Kringle ready to greet and meet visitors with a warm smile and belly chuckle. Jack and Daley’s Dad, Scott Philbrick, enjoyed watching his kids go through the Santa Bus experience. “This is a great thing that’s done for the kids. We wake up on Saturday morning and they are as excited as they are on Christmas Day in getting to meet Santa. We don’t have to leave our neighborhood to see Santa now because of this. Getting to avoid braving the crowds and traffic is a blessing due to the Santa Bus,” Philbrick said. “To have Volunteers In Police Service donate their time to make sure that this experience is safe is amazing in the peace of mind it provides to parents. It makes all the difference in the world to know I can stand and wait with an extra set of eyes looking out for us. I don’t know if you saw, but my kids ran across the street. They didn’t even look because they were so excited due to something else on their mind. This is just fun.” The Santa Bus originated with a few citizens and local businesses that wanted to make Christmas a little brighter for the children of Grain Valley. This Grain Valley holiday tradition has grown to nine dates on the Santa Bus calendar from November 30th to December 22nd. The duration of dates will include four 12 hour Saturdays and two 10 hour Sundays. The Santa Bus currently sees about 4,000 kids a year and gives out about 2,000 donated stuffed toys, candy, and small toys (for the kids too old for stuffed toys). Making this endeavor even more special is that it’s manned entirely by volunteers and supported by donations from local businesses and friends of the project. You may find a complete Santa Bus schedule at www.gvsanta.com and follow Santa’s travels on Facebook.  Photo credit: Valley News staff  Daley (left) and Jack (right) Philbrick with dad Scott Philbrick wait patiently outside the Santa Bus for their opportunity to visit with Santa.
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