Colsen Berns, 8, of Aurora may have been born with hearing issues but when he saw Santa in Aurora last week things in his young world were loud and clear.
“I know I’m going to talk to Santa tonight and I’m going to tell him that I really want a Super Mario Mega 2 on Nintendo Switch. It’s one of my favorite video games,” he said excitedly. “I don’t always get to see Santa every year. I’m not nervous. I feel I can do this. I’m going to tell my mom to make some cookies and have some milk when he comes.”
Santa’s special skills were on display on Dec. 3 as hearing-impaired children were able to speak with him using sign language during the annual Aurora Noon Lions Club event at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 27 S. Edgelawn Drive in Aurora.
For the next two hours, kids with hearing issues enjoyed a meal with family and were able to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus during the 17th annual pizza party dinner.
More than five dozen people were expected to attend the event including a variety of students as well as parents, caregivers and educators from West Aurora School District 129 and East Aurora School District 131.
Jodi Burlison of Woodridge, who works as an educational sign language interpreter in School District 131, said the event offers a number of things to children and their parents.
“I love this because this is a safe area and they are amongst other children who might have the same language as they do so they can speak back and forth in sign language, and parents can meet other parents with the same issues,” she said. “They network and support each other through contacts like this. It goes beyond just the Santa thing.”
Current president of the Aurora Noon Lions Sue Keopke said two members remain in charge of the program and that rather than give children a small gift bag as was done in the past, children were receiving gift cards from McDonald’s.
“There will be a little bag of candy as well. We did this last year and felt it was a little better. It’s hard to have different ages and you don’t know if you’re getting boys or girls,” she said. “We did this last year with the cards and they very much appreciated them, so we thought we would do it again.”
The cards were valued at $10 each and an estimated 30 to 35 children were expected to receive them.
Oswego residents Keith Strnad and his wife Shelley were once again Santa and Mrs. Claus at the event, with Keopke saying they “did such a great job last year.”
Shelley Strnad works as a teacher for the hearing-impaired in third, fourth, and fifth grades at Prairie Point Elementary School, while her husband works in the same capacity with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Traughber Middle School. Both schools are in Oswego.
Keith Strnad said he has worked as a signing Santa for 20 years and that this was his third stint with the Lions group.
“We’ve been doing Mr. and Mrs. Claus for over 20 years,” he said. “We fit a niche because we can do the sign language and kids can talk with Santa. That is the best part of all of this. We’ve both been teachers of the deaf for 30 years. My biggest thing is seeing the kids and realizing they can have a conversation with Santa – that Santa understands them and we can have a little give and take. There’s a good chance if they’ve ever seen another Santa that didn’t happen. There wasn’t any real communication.”
Shelley Strnad said preparation for their collective roles “begins in June each year when Keith starts growing his beard.”
“He used to have a fake (beard) but he would eat half of it,” she said with a laugh. “I like the transformation but I’m happy Christmas Eve when it comes off. There’s my husband again. For me, I find that I’m almost like their first contact before they get to Santa. Sometimes, I’m handing presents out to them. I get into character by what I do at home. We put up Christmas decorations – this is our favorite time of year. The holiday is great but doing this event is the most important part. It’s just precious.”
Colsen’s mother Sarah Berns was just as enthusiastic as her kids and said this was the first time she and her family had come to the event.
“We heard about this at school. This is so great for Colsen and it’s really great to see other individuals that use ASL and are hearing impaired and interacting with them and communicating,” she said. “This is the first time Colsen gets to talk to Santa. We’re very excited about this.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
