WILMINGTON – The magic of Christmas was evident at St. Elizabeth School on Dec. 19 as the students gathered outside for one of the community’s annual highlights.
After a morning full of rain, the skies cleared and the sun came out for the arrival of Motorcycle Santa, an annual toy-collection drive that benefits families at Ronald McDonald House and Nemours Children’s Hospital. Students lined Cedar Street with boxes filled with donations they had collected, and they helped load them into Motorcycle Santa’s sleigh.
“Motorcycle Santa” is Rocco Malin, who graduated from St. Elizabeth elementary and high schools. He was a bartender in Wilmington when, in 2015, he decided to buy some presents and hand them out to unsuspecting people he encountered while riding around the city on his motorcycle. He also wore a Santa Claus suit he purchased online.
Malin worked with a fellow St. Elizabeth alumnus, Matt Place, to grow the endeavor exponentially. There are now close to 50 businesses involved with the charity, said Paul Rizzo, who is involved with the organization and is also the director of communications at St. Elizabeth. St. E’s is the only school involved with the collection drive because of Malin’s ties, and they make the most of it.
See the video from St. Elizabeth here.
As Motorcycle Santa turned on to Cedar Street with his empty sleigh in tow, the students jumped up and down on the sidewalks. Santa, in his red motorcycle suit, was joined by the Grinch, an elf, Elsa and other Christmastime characters. The students emptied box after box of toys, toiletries and other goods to be stored on the sleigh.
Motorcycle Santa is “not your father’s charity. We like to bring a little bit of fun to it,” Rizzo said. “As you can see, our community comes out in a big way for it.”
Lauren Van Hise is a Motorcycle Santa board member who helps with marketing and operations. She also portrayed Elsa and was a big hit among the students.
“It’s incredible, and St. E’s does a great job of supporting us every year,” she said.
The parish has hosted the charity’s pancake breakfast and has helped with storing donations in the past, although Rizzo said Delaware Park has joined the effort and has donated space.
Van Hise said the Motorcycle Santa crew encounters the kind of energy they saw at St. Elizabeth at every step along the journey, from collecting from businesses to distributing the items at the hospital.
“The Christmas spirit is everywhere,” she said. It just takes on a different look. “Here, it’s more the kids seeing the payoff of what they did, the work they put in.”
Photos by Mike Lang.
