Christmas in July for the NC CPA Foundation

By: Stan Hill

It’s difficult to imagine someone who looks like Santa and even portrays Santa at Christmas being in a “Ba-hum-bug” mood, but that is what Barton Baldwin, CPA, described himself as a few years back. Even Scrooge himself, hung on his Christmas tree! And now why the change to a warmed and generous heart? Suddenly, he is so generous that he wants to help the NC CPA Foundation by portraying Santa at holiday events this year as long as someone will give $500 in return to the NC CPA Foundation for his appearance. Now slow down Rudolph, he isn’t sure the sleigh will go too far from pickle country, but he will consider east of Winston Salem and down to the coast.

Just recently I had a pleasant phone call with Santa (aka Barton Baldwin, CPA of Baldwin & Hodge, LLP in Mt. Olive, NC). He had me laughing in no time, something that Santa should always do, right?

For those of you who don’t know Barton, he really is Santa! He looks and talks the part around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. It all started several years ago when he became a grandpa and his granddaughter started pulling on his beard. He decided to let his beard grow some and before he knew it, people were calling him Santa. He became a favorite for the little kids in his daughter’s neighborhood. One thing led to another and before long, one appearance as Santa per year has become six or seven. He has been stopped in airports and on planes for pictures, as he wears his Santa hat and folks tell him they want to tell their kids or grandkids they found or even flew with Santa. Barton gets a chuckle out of the spectacle he creates, and it fills him with joy to see folks just smiling at him and kids’ eyes lighting up as they believe they found Santa Claus. The joy has warmed his heart and he wants to help the NC CPA Foundation, as he too, believes that helping the future CPAs of this state is important to our profession.

So, make your list and check it twice, not for who is naughty or nice, but for any group you think may be interested in having Santa visit this coming Christmas season. It may be a civic group that would like him to come, a firm’s family Christmas party, a retirement village, or an orphanage. All Santa asks is that someone sponsors him and makes a donation to the NC CPA Foundation for $500, by December 25, and in return he will fly his sleigh from the coast of NC over to areas east of Winston Salem. Santa does ask that you contact him only by email with your request no later than October 1, 2014, so he can check his own list of events, get his sleigh in order, and his reindeer in shape to fly to you. Santa can be reached at [email protected].

Thanks Santa for believing in us.

Stan Hill
President
NC CPA Foundation