For the past 14 years, Buford resident Derek Dugan has donned the famous red suit as Santa Claus, to the delight and wonder of countless children — and likely adults, as well — to not only spread Christmas cheer, but to offer comfort for those in need.
As the official Santa of Lanier Islands, Dugan arrived at the resort’s entertainment venue and restaurant Game Changer on Nov. 30 riding atop a fire truck alongside two of his elves. He was greeted by a crowd chanting “Santa, Santa!” and awaiting his arrival to usher in the magic of the holiday season.
While he looked the part, Dugan never aspired to step into the role of Santa Claus.
“It happened, quite honestly, after I got laid off from a corporate position,” Dugan said of his venture into putting on the red suit.
Dugan has worked for that company for about 15 years when it was bought out by a competitor and his position was eliminated. He then took a six-month contract job with another company before moving to Florida to care for his brother, who was battling cancer. When his brother passed away, Dugan said he fell into a deep depression.
“Those two events alone were very significant,” he said of the layoff and his brother’s passing. “My wife asked me what I was going to do, and I told her I was awaiting an answer from a prayer.”
Dugan had applied for a job as a stage manager for a holiday photo shoot company. When he interviewed for the position, the woman filling the role said she couldn’t hire him.
“Because you look like Santa,” she said.
With no intentions of taking a job as Santa, Dugan gave her his information anyway. He went home and received a phone call a couple days later, one that changed the trajectory of his life and thrust him into the role of Santa at a mall in South Carolina just two days before Thanksgiving 14 years ago.
“It changed my entire perspective about myself, life and also gave me a better appreciation and sensitivity to some of the challenges that children and families were experiencing in a very financially depressed area,” Dugan said of his experience that first season as Santa Claus. “That really set me on the road to being the Santa I am today.
“I had no idea of the depth of impact that Santa Claus had,” he said. “I never knew the amount of impact I could make on people’s lives wearing the red suit.”
It was in that poorer South Carolina community with a high crime rate, in a mall with more than 40 stores of which only six were operational with the anchor store set to be closed after Christmas, that Dugan began writing down his experiences as Santa when he would return to his hotel room each night.
“Everybody looks at the aspect of Christmas in kind of a big picture view, and because of the area I was in, I realized Christmas had a totally different meaning for that community,” he said. “More so than people coming to take pictures with Santa, they were coming to share their stories and talk about their lives more than a list of gifts. That was something I didn’t expect.”
During one session in that dilapidated South Carolina mall, Dugan greeted a father who had brought his newborn child. When Dugan asked where the mother was, he learned she has passed away during labor. The father wanted a photo of his daughter with Santa in memory of her mother.
Two days later, Dugan arrived on set, where the other employees called him over and asked if he remembered the father and his newborn daughter who had stopped in to take photos. Dugan learned that the father had gone out with friends that very night the photos were taken to celebrate his child and had been killed in a car accident.
“We were very quiet on the set that day,” Dugan said.
Like his experience with the father and his newborn daughter, Dugan has countless stories of interactions over the years that have moved him and have shaped him into the Santa Claus he is today. Dugan has learned that he’s not the “overly jolly, in your face Santa Claus” — he’s not theatrical. He’s more attentive and empathetic in the manner he interacts with the children he meets.
“I had a little boy at the outlet malls in Dawsonville and he seemed to be a little bit shy, but we carried on a conversation, got pictures taken and he smiled,” Dugan said.
As he proceeded to visit with another family, Dugan learned the previous child wanted to speak with him again before he left.
“He said, ‘I have an enemy,’” Dugan recalled.
The boy said his enemy was very mean to him and that his enemy’s grandfather was in a hospital dying. When Dugan asked the boy what his request was, he asked if Dugan could go to the hospital and make the grandfather better. Dugan then proceeded to pray with the family, as well as the crew on set, for the grandfather.
“I’ll never forget that,” Dugan said. “Every year, I think this is the last time I’m going to do it. It takes a lot of energy. If you’re doing it right, you’re opening yourself up to some of the pain that the world’s experiencing.
“There were so many things that I wanted to do when I was younger – pro baseball player, professional cartoonist. I was a nurse for four years and saw a lot of challenges people experienced, worked with veterans who have experienced PTSD,” he said, “and every time, every time I put on the suit, I just want to make a difference.
“I just want to make a difference in people’s lives,” he echoed. “Honestly, you can’t do that just by asking a child what they want for Christmas.”
While that is part of his role as Santa, Dugan goes beyond surface interactions with the children he meets and their families — he is truly a kind and caring Santa Claus who not only spreads Christmas cheer but comforts those in need.
FEATURED PHOTO: Santa Derek Dugan poses for a photo with a little girl. Dugan is the official Santa of Lanier Islands. Photo by Vicki Alsup.
