For more than 40 years, Santa and his helpers have visited pediatric patients and other children at the hospital to spread some Christmas cheer.
The generosity is organized through the Committee to Benefit the Children (CBC), which has raised funds for the non-medical needs of families of children with cancer and other illnesses at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.
Jim McCloskey with the organization took on the role of Santa.
“All you have to do is look at the kids — and these are the kids that literally have fallen through the cracks — and then all of a sudden a smile has been brought to their face that hasn't been there,” he said.
Volunteers from La Salle College High School, the Philadelphia Highway Patrol, veteran groups and many others also visited kids at St. Christopher’s oncology and hematology departments with gifts and smiles.
A few even went to their homes. Saint Nick and more than 100 of his friends rolled up on motorcycles in front of the Kensington home of 17-year-old Shania Edmonds.
This year is a special Christmas for Edmonds: On Monday, she found out that she is nine months cancer-free. All the gifts Santa brought her and her younger sister are just an added bonus.
“I'm very shocked,” she said. “I don't want to get emotional, but I'm speechless right now, really.”
“It shows what Christmas and what humanity is,” she added. “It's not what you see on the news all of the time. There is actually a lot of good going around, and it means a lot.”