Santa helps in mysterious ways

NEW YORK (AP) — Dale Keyser: bipolar, alcoholic, homeless, jobless, estranged from his wife and children.

But that's history.

Days before Christmas, Keyser is playing Santa Claus on Fifth Avenue – now a man with a roof over his head and a job, who volunteers to entertain the sidewalk crowds. And who will spend time with his own family during the holiday season.

“I love this. Little kids run up and say, 'Santa, I love you,'” said Keyser, who works for Volunteers of America, the group that helped him and about a dozen other “Santas” rebuild their lives.

One of his happiest moments was the day when two busloads of schoolchildren on Fifth Avenue ran to him with such glee that they toppled him over.

Keyser, 63, is one of 96 formerly homeless people who live in studio apartments at Rose House, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where they are offered treatment for substance abuse and mental illness, as well as job training. Four of them are playing sidewalk Santa.

Another is Thomas Sanchez, once a Sears employee and book vendor who lost his income, wife and three children after being disabled by arthritis. He ended up living on the steps of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

At 46, he now volunteers for the church and during this season rings his bell to raise money to buy food for people who can't afford it.

The Santas plant their portable red chimneys at tony locations where the holiday crowds are thickest: Rockefeller Center, across from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the sidewalks in front of Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and FAO Schwartz.

They started work the day after Thanksgiving, standing in the cold from noon to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

The Fifth Avenue Santas – a dozen in all – come from city shelters after being approved by the Department of Homeless Services, having proved that they can kick old habits and work with therapists to get better.

“I was caught up in drinking. I was destroying myself. Eventually I lost my family – four kids and my wife – and I became homeless,” Keyser said. “Then I was able to get help and I'm on medication. My personality has leveled out, and I've been sober for 13 years.”

After a 15-year absence, the onetime iron foundry worker from Pennsylvania now periodically sees his ex-wife and children.