Jerry Galland in his role as Santa; A role he began in 2013. Photo courtesy
KINGMAN – Jerry Galland has been a Kingman resident for about two years and has been playing Santa since 2013. He is a member of the Santas of the Pacific Northwest (NORPAC) Santa group, and the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas (IBRBS) society, both communities were designed to make Santas everywhere the best jolly fellows they could possibly be, with safety protocols such as background checks. Jerry decided he wanted to become a Santa because he enjoyed building a relationship with kids who may not have that connection at home. Plus, he’s stated, “I don’t like to shave.” One instance specifically stood out to him when a foster child had asked Santa for a family for Christmas. Jerry was thrilled with joy when he found out that the child had been adopted. Jerry had no idea his position as Santa could get any more fulfilling.
It all started in 2019 when Jerry (Santa Jerry) Galland flew his sleigh to Seattle for a Santa gig due to the child not being able to make the trip themselves. Santa Jerry had arrived; he had seen a device that particularly piqued his interest. The child was immobile everywhere but their thumb. The child’s mother had rigged a button, molding some plastic in a way that encased the button to their hand in the correct position for having their thumb push it; the button would set off a toy for the child, giving them a way to play.
These contraptions are called switch-adapted toys, and what the mother had to do to ensure the child was able to use the toy wasn’t out of the ordinary, but it was also expensive. These switch-adapted toys for special needs children range from twice to two and a half times as much as your average children’s toy.
After Santa Jerry realized that many special needs children around the world are suffering, he knew he had to do something about it. Now, in 2024, Santa Jerry has found his own way to make switch-adapted toys more affordable to special needs children around the world.
Is there any better job to put into the hands of Santa? Santa Jerry began fidgeting and experimenting with these switches in his garage, figuring he could do this himself. He at first used old game buttons to do his experiments, but, with time, found a way to get these switch-adaptation buttons for only $10 per button.
He would also mess with many kinds of these special needs buttons, such as light-up ones made for those with sight impairments.
Santa Jerry has donated many of his switch-adapted products to Kingman Regional Medical Center.
A teacher from Colorado had reached out to Santa Jerry to learn how to switch-adapt toys so she could create a project for her students. She later sent these toys off to their local hospital.
Today, Santa Jerry is said to have sold on average 2,000 switch-adapted toys and 4,000 switches. He has made so much progress in the field of switch-adapted products that the rest of the market had to follow much of what he was doing, and companies began to make switch-adapted toys less expensive. On Santa Jerry’s YouTube channel, Lazerguy2, Santa posts videos of almost every toy he switch-adapts, in hopes of teaching others how to make these switch-adapted toys at home in a safe manner.
Noel Mabile
