The Santa Bus, which travelled 20 routes, over 20 nights in Brighton & Hove, raised £36,579 for 12 local charities, including LGBTQ+ mental health charity MindOut.
Santa was joined by his team of elves and festive volunteers as thousands of people lined the streets and walked alongside the Santa Bus with Santa waving from the top deck.
The money was raised through nightly bucket collections, local business collection points, and an online Go Fund Me page. Brighton & Hove Buses also contributed £5,835 by donating on behalf of every colleague that took part in a company survey. The overall amount of money raised in the last 21 years now totals over £453,579 for local charities.
Ed Wills, Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Buses, said: “This is an incredible amount of money to raise for local charities in the community we serve. It is an overwhelming display of generosity from local people and those who gave up their time to volunteer.
“Over the last 21 years, the Santa Bus has become one of the city’s most popular and iconic annual events. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen including the teams of nightly volunteers, local supporting businesses and everybody who comes out to donate and give Santa and his helpers a festive wave.”
The money raised will be split evenly among the 12 Santa Bus charities, that includes: Martlets, Chestnut Tree House, Brighton & Hove Museums, Rockinghorse Children’s Charity, Amaze, Clock Tower Sanctuary, Fareshare Sussex & Surrey, Together Co, Possability People, East Sussex WRAS Wildlife Rescue, MindOut and Brighton Women’s Centre.