Tue, Dec 27, 2011
Michelle Obama Answered Calls From Children Across The
Country
For the second year in a row, First Lady Michelle Obama took
time from her schedule to deliver holiday cheer to children across
America by personally answering phone calls on Santa's journey as
part of the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program run by the North
American Aerospace Defense Command.
Answering the telephone with, "Hello, this is First Lady
Michelle Obama with NORAD Tracks Santa. How may I help you?", Mrs.
Obama fielded calls from Hawaii to surprised children calling in to
find out where Santa is on his trip around the world. Mrs. Obama
answered children's questions about Santa's exact location using
NORAD's global Santa Tracker and when he was expected to drop by
their house. She assured the children that NORAD is tracking
Santa's progress closely and that his journey was going well this
Christmas Eve.
“It is wonderful to be part of this holiday tradition. I
love answering calls from children who were anxious to learn where
Santa was and when he would arrive at their home. I passed on to
each child the current location of Santa and reminded them that he
would come to their house only after they were in bed
sleeping.”
The NORAD Tracks Santa program began in 1955 after a phone call
was made to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center
in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local youngster who
dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper
advertisement. The commander on duty who answered the phone that
night gave the youngster the information requested - the
whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa, a
tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in
1958.
The NORAD Tracks Santa program has grown immensely since first
presented on the Internet in 1998. The website receives millions of
unique visitors from hundreds of countries and territories around
the world. In addition, a live Operations Center is occupied for 25
hours with more than 1,200 volunteers each year who receive
hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails from families
around the world. Newsday reports that the volunteers fielded a
record 102,000 phone calls starting as early as 0400 local time
Saturday. "The phones were ringing like crazy," said Lt. Cmdr Bill
Lewis.
The NORAD Tracks Santa Facebook page recorded 999,000 "likes,"
and Twitter logged in an additional 53,000 followers over last
year.
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