PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Three-year-old Marcus Garvey received a phone call he wasn't expecting Wednesday night.

 

It was Santa and Mrs. Claus. As Christmas approaches, they wanted to know what Garvey wanted for Christmas and to make sure he was behaving.

 

"He was so happy. He couldn't believe we knew things," said Jamie Sears, who on Wednesday night was better known as Mrs. Claus. "You could hear the gasps of excitement."

 

Sears, joined by Mr. Claus, or Tim Sears, were just two of more than a dozen local volunteers calling city children on Wednesday and Thursday night this week. The volunteers spend a few hours each night calling children whose parents signed them up for the city's longstanding North Pole Calling program.

 

"We have 136 kids this year. Last year we had over 165, " said Becky Manship, recreation activities coordinator for the city's Department of Community Development. "This is one of my favorite programs of the year."

 

Manship provides forms to the city schools to distribute to children in kindergarten through second grade, at City Hall and through the city's website. The forms list the child's name, teacher, interests, presents, pets and other information, which the volunteers use in their conversations.

 

"It's mostly excitement. Some get nervous and scared about talking to Santa and others get so excited they don't want to stop talking," Manship said.

 

Manship said the city doesn't put an age limit on the program but mostly focuses on children in the early grades. But they've called children as young as 1 and some even older.

 

"We have 9, 10, 11-year-olds who still believe," Manship said.

 

As is common with children, the volunteers never know what ,response they'll get. On Wednesday, Joe Cimini called a home that he expected to have only a couple children. But there were guests, and he ended up talking to nearly a dozen different children. In other cases, the children quickly hung up the phone because they were scared.

 

Volunteer Bill Knowles said one year he called a 9-year-old girl who said she wanted to become a marine biologist. But she said she couldn't because she was a girl. Knowles didn't like that response and told her that, yes, she most certainly can become a marine biologist if she works hard in school and told her not to let anyone say she couldn't.

 

Police Chief Michael Wynn once called a child from a classroom he visited that day. And the child called him out on it.

 

Those are just a few examples of the unexpected responses but mostly, the children are excited to hear from Santa. And Santa tells them to be nice to their siblings or listen to their parents and to continue working hard in school.

 

While there may be some unexpected responses, the volunteers continue to come back to help. All of the volunteers there Wednesday night had done it before. The Knights of Columbus has volunteers handle the calls on Thursday night.

 

"If we can make one child smile then we did the right thing," Jamie Sears said, adding that they do volunteer just about every year.

 

Manship doesn't know exactly when the program began but estimates that it started along with many of the city's other recreational events 70 or so years ago. She is in her 9th year running the program but she's spoken to longtime city employees who remember it more than 20 years ago.