NORAD thanks 2007 Santa trackers

  • Published
  • North American Aerospace Defense Command Public Affairs
PETERSON AFB, Colo. --  Piggybacking on the successes of 2006, Santa tracker volunteers came through during the 2007 North American Aerospace Defense Command, or 'NORAD Tracks Santa' effort.

The call for volunteers went out in early December, and the response was significant: more than 1,000 volunteers worked out of the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center here. There, they helped to track Santa during his around the world Christmas Eve trip.

The Santa trackers, military and civilian personnel from Peterson AFB, Ft Carson, Schriever AFB, the AFA and special guests, set a new record this year with 94,743 answered telephone calls between the hours of 2:00 a.m., Dec 24 and 2:00 a.m., Dec 25.

"We set a new record this year for the number of kids that called in this year," said Maj. Stacia Reddish, NORAD Tracks Santa project officer. "That was our goal - to spread the Christmas spirit and let the kids know where Santa's was as he made his trip around the world on Christmas Eve."

In addition to the telephone calls, Santa Trackers answered a record number of e-mails sent to NORAD on Christmas Eve: 10, 326 emails in just 24 hours.

"It is that extra attention that makes the program special. ... the magical feeling of personal communication with an "official" Santa tracker ... that is what really delights the children," said Major Reddish.

The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, www.noradsanta.org, was redesigned this year by the search engine 'Google.' During the period of Nov. 16 through Dec. 25, the site received 10,660,838 unique visitors and 40,479,246 page views from 212 countries and territories.

"This was another great year for tracking Santa around the world," the major said. "We owe the success to volunteers who made it all happen."

 

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