Connecting with older clients by becoming Santa

More than once, strangers have paid for Beth Lachance Hesson’s, CLU, CFP, order at Canadian staple Tim Horton’s.

It’s not totally unexplainable, though — each time, it’s been while the 24-year MDRT member from Midhurst, Ontario, Canada, is in the drive-through dressed as Santa Claus.

It’s something she has done for the last five years or so, not to get free doughnuts but as a fun way to visit some of her older clients who reside in senior living facilities. Dressed in her Santa suit (fully equipped with beard, of course), she brings gift baskets and a big sack of candy canes and spreads holiday cheer to her clients, who often have no idea who she is until she takes the beard off. “One client said, ‘Oh my goodness, Beth, it was you!’” Hesson recalls. “’I was thinking Santa was getting a little thin, you need some more padding!’”

A self-described “Christmas freak,” Hesson sometimes takes a picture with her clients and sends it to them, inspiring curiosity among their family members when they visit and see the photo with Santa and gift baskets. Sometimes that has led to some business, Hesson said, but that isn’t really the point. She’s already working with her older clients to bring their kids into discussions and just wants to give back. “Being Santa just makes it all more personable,” she said. “They get to know me a little more, and that’s fun.”

For more Whole Person ideas

•        “Well mind and body” (pdf)
•        “Don’t allow negativity” (video)
•        “Whole Person balance quiz” (pdf)