COLORADO SPRINGS – Santa made an early visit to Colorado Springs this weekend to help raise money for a non-profit group that serves veterans.
The inaugural Santa Fest event at the Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center gave local families the chance to take a picture with Santa for free. Meanwhile, dozens of small business owners set up booths where mom’s and dads could do some Christmas shopping. All of the vendors donated their proceeds to Mount Carmel.
Organizer Ryan Van Ornum is a veteran of the Navy who now works in real estate. He said he wanted to give back this time of year.
“Its something that is, it really hits me in my heart that I want help out people that are transitioning out of the military and make sure that they get a good foot in civilian life,” he said.
Mount Carmel provides transition assistance to veterans as they leave the military. Since their founding in 2016, the center has served some 4,200 hundred vets in our community.
