It was three days before Capt. Phillip Herndon’s planned visit to the children’s hospital when he got a call from one of the nurses. When she told him that there was a child who wasn’t going to live to see the next day, he raced down to the hospital in his Santa Claus suit immediately.
For three years, Herndon of the Macon-Bibb Fire Department has dressed up as Santa Claus and brought presents and holiday cheer to the children and nurses. This year will be their fourth time bringing Santa to the hospital in downtown Macon.
“We come up on a sleigh and we get on these aerial ladders and we climb the whole side of the building, and I wave to all of the children,” Herndon said. “Then, when we’re done, I actually go inside and I give the gifts to every single child that’s in the hospital.”
Herndon’s experience is one of many examples of how committed the fire department is to supporting children’s healthcare in middle Georgia. Their recent release of the 2026 Fireman Calendar is expected to raise money for the Atrium Health Levine Children’s Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital.
The fire department’s last fireman calendar from 2017 raised $25,000, and they gave $12,500 each to JaysHope and Georgia Fallen Firefighters.
“We raised a lot of money,” Herndon said. “And we’re hunting to do more of that this year.”
But the Macon-Bibb Fire Department’s efforts are not limited to fundraising. The firemen and women also have participate in an annual Christmas tradition of bringing Santa Claus to the children’s hospital.
The personal interactions with the children and nurses touched the hearts of the fire department, and they wanted to continue supporting the children’s hospital.
“That kinda really inspired us to help raise money for the children’s hospital and to give to some of those families that need help, that don’t have places to stay,” Herndon said. “We learned a lot doing that event, and that’s kind of how we picked where we wanted the money to go.”
Herndon feels that he was especially affected by the Christmas event, and encourages others to support the children’s hospital in any way that they can.
“It’s life-changing for me,” Herndon said. “If you ever want to be grounded back to this earth, go into the children’s hospital and see these children. They’re just trying to survive until tomorrow, and we’re out here arguing because our sandwich didn’t have mayonnaise on it.”
The firemen and women show that they are willing to support their community in more ways than what their careers entail. They enjoy the work that they do and they feel pride in changing people’s lives.
“That’s what a fireman does, we risk our lives for others every single day,” Herndon said. “I’ve been doing it for 22 years. We gotta love what we do because we see a lot of death and we see a lot of hurt people, and we come to help.”
