On Tuesday night in Aurora, 4-year-old Luka Riedy had a look on his face that would have lit up the darkest room once his eyes fell on Santa Claus.
“My son wants everything from Santa this year,” said his father Shannon Riedy, who added that he and his wife Allison adopted Luka from the Dominican Republic. “My son loves flowers, lights and letters – the alphabet – he loves learning.”
Beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Aurora Noon Lions Club offered its 12th annual holiday party focusing on hearing-impaired children. About three dozen students and their caregivers representing both East and West Aurora public school districts attended the event at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Aurora.
The event was a partnership between the Aurora Noon Lions and Sycamore-based Northwestern Illinois Association, a regional special-education cooperative.
The 90-minute celebration included a pizza party offered by the Lions as well the chance to visit with a sign language Santa and Mrs. Claus, with each child receiving a gift.
Dick Schindel of Aurora, a retired East Aurora High School teacher and party coordinator for the Aurora Noon Lions, noted the event had been held for years at Luigi’s Pizza and Fun Center in Aurora. The venue was forced to close in the spring due to the labor shortage.
“As soon as we heard that Luigi’s was closing, we kind of all panicked and thought, where are we going to go?” Schindel said about the annual event. “Fortunately, our current president is a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and approached the pastor who happens to be one of our new members, so things kind of fell into place. We now hold our monthly meetings here twice a month, and they have given us a room.”
Another new wrinkle this year was the introduction of a new Santa and Mrs. Claus, who were played by Oswego residents Shelley Strnad and her husband Keith, both teachers of deaf and hearing-impaired students who work, respectively, at Prairie Point Elementary School and Traughber Middle School in Oswego.
Schindel said that longtime Lisle resident Dan Basalone, who played the role of Santa at various locations for more than 20 years, sadly passed away less than two weeks before Tuesday’s event but had indicated much earlier to Lions Club officials that he would not be able to perform this year.
“One of our other members who works at Waubonsee College knew of someone else that does signing Santa and it turned out it was a husband-and-wife team,” he said.
The Strnads were more than happy to pick up the mantel.
Shelley Strnad said she has been playing Mrs. Claus for about 10 years and that she and her husband “look forward to it every year.”
“To be Mrs. Claus, you need to be happy and enjoy the season and the reason for the season and you need to have your answers straight so we’re both saying the same thing,” she said.
Keith Strnad said he and his wife enjoy going back to some of the same places every year and seeing the kids grow up.
“Sometimes, you even remember their names,” he said. “As far as doing this with my wife I’m over the moon that we have something to do together as we each have our own hobbies or things that we like to do.”
Amy Cruz, 6, of Aurora, said she wanted to ask Santa for a new doll at the event.
“I’ve been really good this year,” she said. “I also want some new shoes.”
The Riedys were close to tears as they watched young Luka, whose eyes were fixed on the Claus couple.
“Luka was a little behind (in the holiday traditions) due to COVID, so to see him and how excited he is, I could cry,” Allison Riedy said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
