Arizona Claus Cause-Steve and Mary Taylor
At Great American Pizza and Subs in Golden Valley, Arizona, they serve up piping hot delicious pizza, subs and more. However, there is more to experience at this local pizza hangout. What do burning rubber, hot rods, bikes and rat rods have to do with Christmas?
Since 2017, Arizona Claus Cause has been helping bring joy to local kids in the holiday season. Steve and Mary Taylor have been portraying Mr and Mrs Claus for kids who are hospitalized and also give away stuffed animals, coloring books and more to needy children each year.
The couple has also visited local nursing homes across Mohave County to bring Christmas joy to the elderly.
Mary Taylor (Mrs Claus) said “While the majority of what we do is here in Mohave County, we often see kids in Arkansas, Nevada, and Utah. In Utah, there is a small community that does a light parade with us as their Santa. We then go go to their fire station where Mrs. Claus reads a story to the kids, and then Santa sees every child and gives them stuffed animals.”
“Mohave county parks and recreation also have had us come to be their Santa and Mrs. Claus for the past 3 years at the Hualapai Mountain Lodge, another place we take pictures and give away stuffed animals and candy canes. We see people from all over the country there.
Steve and I have been Santa and Mrs. Claus, officially since 2017. That's when we started our 501(C)3 non-profit. Before that, from around 2011, we bought gifts and did good deeds for people from our pocket. We did it anonymously. We paid school lunch bills and donated filled backpacks. It kinda grew and got bigger than we could continue to support personally. So, we began the non-profit.”
“When we first started the AZ Claus Cause we had some volunteers, we did 3 or 4 car shows a year to provide the funds we use each year, and when it became more like a job... well, it came back to us. So now it's just us with a couple of people we can call on for a favor now and then.
Eric Brown has probably been one of the best supporters we could have ever dreamed of. We go to KRMC each year on Christmas Eve and see every patient who wants a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. We also see the general public at the open house on the first Wednesday of December. We're usually there 4-5 hours. The people who are there to see us are nothing short of AMAZING. They all wait so patiently. Sometimes the line is very long, 200 or 300.”
Eric Brown has been organizing car events at Great American Pizza in Golden Valley Arizona for quite some time. Each show is a cornucopia of various unique hot rods, bikes, rat rods and more. In addition to raffles, 50/50 drawings, trophies etc, several unique firearms have been raffled off as well. Each show usually features burnout contests and other unique additions such as mud bogs.
Various local car clubs also participate in the events such as the Arizona Pharoahs Car Club, Time Traveler’s Car Club, Mustangs and Fabulous Fords Car Club, and Chozen Lunatics Bike Club. The funds raised go to support the Arizona Claus Cause.
Robert and Kat Hall, owners of Great American Pizza and Subs have been very supportive of every event and their team works hard to serve the many patrons attending.
Great American Pizza and Subs is located at 6775 AZ-68, Golden Valley, AZ 928-565-5550 Also on Facebook.
For more info about the Arizona Claus Cause call 928-263-7167 or email [email protected] Also on Facebook.