Meet Sean Garcia

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, how does your business help the community?
The goal of Seanta Clause & Friends, which is a non-profit, is to help those in need during the holidays. It doesn’t matter if it is a family or just one person. It could be for many different reasons. Maybe they are just all alone. Maybe they don’t have money for gifts. Maybe they don’t have money for a Christmas dinner. We try to help as best as we can to cover all of those bases. We have a breakfast fundraiser we do every year. That money goes to help the families in need. Each family receives a full Christmas dinner with sparkling cider, pie, an outfit and gift for each child. If we have enough we will get them a gift card or something they may need. The amount of families we help each year varies on how much we raise at the breakfast with Seanta. We also do the “Where’s Seanta ” contest every year on weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I drive around town to a random locations, take a picture of whatever I am giving away and in the background is a hint of where I am at. I post it to our Facebook page and the first one to find me wins. It could be anything from Jersey Mike’s subs, movie tickets, toys, Christmas decorations or small appliances. What we give away just depends on what was donated for the season. You can find pics on our Facebook page and see past winners and new winners for the 2024 season. In between all of that we do appearances for events at no charge. We have been in the Escondido Christmas parade for the past 5 years and part of the Holiday Festival at Grape Day Park for about the same. Plus, miscellaneous parties along the way. It used to be myself, Mrs. Clause and a couple of elves. One of our elves cannot participate as much anymore because of her work and our head elf, Stoney, passed away in March. This year we have added a Grinch to help us in the fun.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was already a Santa but I wanted to start a non profit to help those in need during the holidays and what better way than to be a Santa. I talked with the Mrs. and my friend Gary about it and Seanta Clause and Friends was born. We all love Christmas and wanted to give back to the community at that time of year. The Where’s Seanta contest started out as me taking pictures in front of homes decorated for the holidays and then post the picture on social media and whoever claimed it was their home got a yard decoration for winning. After a year or two of that, it became harder to find houses we hadn’t already seen, so it evolved to what it is today. It all started during COVID and we were looking to hopefully cheer people up and motivate them to participate and bring back some joy that was lost during that first year. As stated before, we are not in this for the money. We do it to see the joy on many faces, especially the kids. Last year I was giving away some girls toys, a family rolled up with their 4 yr old daughter. She won a couple dolls, some chalk and finger paints. She was shy but you could tell she was excited. She happily accepted the gifts with a huge smile and took pics with Seanta. She walked around her car to get in and leave, when another young girl her age came up wanting a picture with Santa. The first girl who won walked up and handed the other girl a doll and gave her a big hug! That melted our hearts. The spirit of Christmas was alive and well. That is a perfect example of why we do what we do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would let them choose. They are the ones visiting. I would make suggestions and tell them what is around and go from there. We have within an hour or 2 from here Disneyland, plenty of theme parks, the beach, the zoo and any kind of restaurant you could think of. I would ask them what type of food they like and let them choose. If they have never been to Filipes pizza we would have to go there since that is my favorite food group.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Gary Rogers ! Our head elf who passed away. We have been friends since high-school and he has been a big part of it from the very beginning. He was a huge part in making this all work. I told him about my idea and what I wanted to do and jumped right in and wanted to be involved. I couldn’t do this without Mrs. Clause. Without her, nothing would get done, I would forget half of the places i need to be. Her support is amazing and she loves doing this just as much as I do. We are not in this gig to make money. We do it because it’s Christmas and seeing faces light up when they see us makes it all worth it. And finally, a big shout out to our friends at Teri Inc. They are a non-profit who help individuals with special needs. They needed a Santa one year for one of their events and I was happy to oblige. The Teri Campus of Life in San Marcos is amazing and speaks to all the wonderful things they do for the special needs community. I love working with them. A shout out to all the businesses and people who donate and support our cause. We are forever grateful!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeantaClause/?ref=share_group_link