Santa stopped in to see the Southridge branch team on December 15! A longtime customer named Robert has been a “Street Santa” for 14 years, dressing up and waving to cars and taking photos with passersby.

“Robert says he’s the only official Street Santa in Wisconsin,” reports area branch manager Carolyn Lyrenmann. “He does it because he likes to see people smile, and he encourages the people who take pictures with him to go online and donate to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin or the Humane Society.” She says he’s been known to stand outside for as long as 12 hours at a time, usually near College Avenue and 21st Street.

He visits Southridge about once a month as regular old Robert, but this was his first visit as Santa; he snapped the pic above with teller Kayde Czarnecki and teller supervisor Tiffany Dettmann. “It meant a lot to him to come by here, and customers got a huge kick out of seeing him,” Carolyn says.