Santa welcomes back Michigan kids as Flight to the North Pole returns from pandemic hiatus

For most kids, Santa Claus is someone who comes to their home the night before Christmas while they are tucked away in bed. But for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, a special group of kids from Michigan turned the tables and dropped in on St. Nick themselves, thanks to a Detroit Metro Airport program called Flight to the North Pole.

The Santa that greets these children, grappling with cancer or other illnesses, was happy to see them return.

Bill Neelsen Sr. has embodied the spirit of Santa Claus for hundreds of these children as a part of Flight to the North Pole, where several dozen children from seven different Michigan hospitals, come to DTW and board a fantasy flight to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus and receive a dose of holiday cheer.

The pandemic — and health concerns for children who often have suppressed immune systems — put a pause on the program, so this is the first year since 2019 that the Flight to the North Pole has made it to takeoff. Almost no one is more excited for its return than Neelsen.

Neelsen began working with the program more than 20 years ago, but he was no newbie to the Santa scene. He first transformed into Kris Kringle in 1973, at age 15, while working at his neighbor's car wash. He had a 26-year career at Ford Motor in Dearborn, but maintained two side acts — the balloon-sculpting Willie T. Clown and Santa, reappearing every holiday season. Both the Santa shows and clown gig gave Neelsen some unique opportunities throughout the years, like acting as jolly ol' St. Nick for the Red Wings players and their families, doing pictures with Santa during intermission at the Fox Theatre and performing at the Comerica Park grand opening as Willie T. Clown.

“I like to see people having fun, I like to see people happy,” Neelsen said. “Wherever I can, I try to do something.”

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After joining Detroit Metro Airport's field maintenance department in 2002, a certain flyer caught his eye. Posted by the Motown chapter of the Silverliners, an international nonprofit organization of retired flight attendants, the flyer requested help for the airport's annual Flight to the North Pole. Given his prior experience as St. Nick, Neelsen inquired about their need for a Santa, just to find that their previous Santa had grown frail and was ready for a replacement. Neelsen has been the Flight to the North Pole's Santa ever since, going the extra mile to deliver Christmas cheer to children in need.

“When I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do for the Flight to the North Pole, it kind of interrupts my sleep because I’m always thinking at night, ‘What can I do to give more to these kids?’ ” Neelsen said.

Leading up to the holiday season, Neelsen collects monetary donations to purchase his own presents for the kids and their parents. He tries to buy things that can help to take the kids’ minds off of their treatment, like subscriptions to children’s magazines and other toys, and other small gifts to help alleviate some of the parents’ struggles.

“This year, I bought a bunch of Etch A Sketches, so when the boys and girls are in there, going through whatever they’re going through, they’ll be able to play on the Etch A Sketch,” Neelsen said. “I get gas cards for the parents, which is really not substantial for what their needs may be getting back and forth to the hospital, but it’s my way of saying thank you.”

He also accepts material donations from other nonprofits, like custom pillows embroidered by the Allen Park Sewers Guild and blankets from Fleece & Thank You in Farmington Hills. Leading up to the big day, Neelsen’s living room fills with the donated goods.

“I used to have a living room behind me. … Now it’s just boxes and blankets and everything for the kids,” he said.

To board the Flight to the North Pole, children must be approved by their doctors that they are well enough to leave the hospital without complications. But when some kids aren't able to make the flight, Neelsen is known to make hospital visits, and even the occasional home visit, to deliver gifts to the kids.

“Some of these boys and girls … some of them are in really bad shape, it even gets me. But if all of us, meaning the Silverliners, Santa and those that help, can take just about five seconds of that prodding and poking and therapy and stuff like that away from them, that’s what this event is all about.”

Even after his retirement from DTW in November 2022, Neelsen had no intention of retiring from Santa and bringing joy to children in need. In fact, when he’s not rocking the bright red suit and snow-white beard, he’s trying hard to keep his schedule full, doing other charity work, riding his motorcycle and keeping in contact with other members of the Michigan Association of Professional Santas — of which he is a part.

For more information or to donate to Flight to the North, contact Bill Neelson through his Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Flight to the North Pole: Sick Michigan kids visit Santa Clause