Well, it’s that time of the year again when Christmas trees are going up and the panic filled search for gifts has arrived. It’s also a great time to get a picture taken with Santa Claus! This will be the fourth year of Claus for a Cause and the founder and photographer, Julie Dodd, will be coordinating this exciting and successful event.

Claus for a Cause is a charity event that donates all its earnings to the selected charities. This year’s charities happen to be the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the 18 Fore Life Foundation. Not only are these major charities getting a gift for the holidays, but so are you! You can get your picture with Santa Claus taken by Julie Dodd and Amy Ellinghouse on Sunday, November 18^th at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomfield. Santa Claus is only sticking around from 3:00 to 5:00pm but there are no appointments needed. The photo packets run from $10 to $25 but all the money will go towards the charities that Claus for a Cause donates to. This is also the third year that you are able to order a Claus for a Cause t-shirt along with your photo packets.

The founder of this fantastic organization was inspired in 2008 when her and her friend, Amy Ellinghouse, went to Memphis to be a part of a photography workshop. The duo was immediately inspired by photographer Sandy Puc, who started her own charity called “Lay Me Down To Sleep” that provides free hospital portraits to families that had recently lost a baby. Puc encouraged the attendees at the workshop to use their photography skills to do something similar to what she was doing.

Months after the workshop, she talked about the idea of taking pictures with Santa and giving the profit to charity with her good friend, Amy Stubenrauch. Both of her friends’ daughters were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which made the choice of choosing one of the charities a little less difficult. Her mother-in-law, Effit Dodd, and her aunt, Debbie Triplett, both fought against breast cancer and are both 18 Fore Life recipients. Dodd was certain that the two charities to donate to during their first annual Claus for a Cause in 2009 were the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

“I have a passion for helping people and a love for children, as I am in my fifteenth year of teaching Kindergarten,” Dodd explains. “I can’t think of a better way to raise money for charity than doing two of the most favorite things I love to do!”

In the past three years, the Claus for a Cause organization has donated a tremendous amount of money for charity: nearly $10,000! In 2009, they raised $500 for the American Cancer Society and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2010, they nearly earned seven times the amount of money as the year before, earning $3,500 for the same charities. In 2011, they decided to donate $6,800 to both the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the 18 Fore Life Foundation.

Dodd and a couple of her close friends are excited to be a part of running this event for the fourth year and they thank everyone for coming out and participating and for the support of this year’s sponsors. Both Dodd and Ellinghouse are thrilled to be offering their talents to take the memorable pictures at this year’s event. They are expecting a great turn out and hoping to raise even more money than they have in the previous years. Be sure to stop on by and support this great cause that offers tremendous donations and hope to many of these large and worthwhile charities.