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NORAD NEWS
News | Jan. 18, 2007

NORAD Tracks Santa program reports 2006 results

By NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Volunteers for the 51st season of NORAD Tracks Santa set a new record for the program by answering 65,355 telephone calls between the hours of 2 a.m. Dec. 24, 2006, and 2 a.m. Dec. 25, 2006.

“This was a 50-percent increase in the number of kids we made happy,” said Air Force Maj. Stacia Reddish, NORAD Tracks Santa project officer. “And that is what our goal was – to make kids happy with the information as to Santa’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve.”

The 756 volunteer Santa Trackers – military personnel from Peterson and Schriever Air Force Bases, Fort Carson, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and special guests – also replied to a record 7,487 e-mails in the same time period.

The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, www.noradsanta.org, received 905,945,252 hits – just shy of one billion – from 210 countries and territories between Nov. 17, 2006, and Dec. 25, 2006.

“This was a great year for the NORAD Tracks Santa program due to the volunteers who freely gave of their own time to respond to children’s questions about Santa," Reddish said. "We absolutely could not do it without their support. We hope our volunteers had a great time and will join us again next year.”