Note from the foundation: this is the short version of our origin story. The full version — with more of the people, the setbacks, and the early conversations — will live elsewhere on the site over time. This is the part we can tell now.
The Deaf Santa Claus Foundation didn’t start as a foundation. It started as a person.
The man before the foundation
Charles Graves grew up Deaf in a hearing family. Like many Deaf adults, he spent his life on the experiential side of every gap this site talks about — dinner tables, classrooms, family events, professional opportunities, hospitals, holidays. He also grew up looking a striking amount like the picture-book image of Santa Claus.
For years, that resemblance was just a thing Charles’s friends teased him about. He started dressing as Santa at Deaf community events and Deaf school visits, signing with the kids, and seeing the look on their faces when they realized this Santa Claus could actually talk to them — in their language, without a translator, without a workaround.
What started as occasional appearances in his own community grew into something larger as more organizers heard about him. Deaf schools booked him. Deaf clubs invited him. Eventually, mainstream venues started reaching out.
The film that made it visible
In 2023, filmmakers Ben Shelton and Anthony Mowl began documenting Charles’s pursuit of professional Santa work — including his attendance at Santa school, which made him one of the first Deaf students in the school’s history. The resulting documentary, Deaf Santa Claus, premiered at the 2024 Austin Film Festival and went on to a national theatrical tour beginning in late 2025.
The film did what individual appearances couldn’t: it scaled the story. A few thousand families had seen Charles in person. Millions could see him on screen. And the question that had quietly hovered around Charles’s work for years became urgent: what happens after the film?
Why we needed an organization
One person, no matter how much he means to the families he visits, can only be in one place at a time. Charles cannot personally visit every Deaf child in the country. The documentary cannot keep premiering forever. The momentum the film generated was going to dissipate unless something institutional caught it.
The Deaf Santa Claus Foundation was founded as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 86-1409858) to do exactly that — to take the energy and visibility of one Deaf Santa Claus and turn it into infrastructure that could support many.
The founding mission, in three lines:
- Bring Deaf Santa Claus appearances to more communities each year
- Train Santas, both hearing and Deaf, in basic ASL and Deaf cultural awareness
- Use the film and educational outreach to shift how the broader Santa industry treats Deaf children
The people who built it
The foundation operates with a small leadership team and a growing volunteer base. Evan Winegard serves as president and board chair. Anthony Mowl, co-director of the documentary, serves on the board and leads much of the foundation’s public-facing communication. Charles Graves remains the foundation’s most visible figure, continuing to make appearances and represent the work in media interviews and at screenings.
Behind that public-facing trio is a longer list of advisors, volunteers, partner organizations, and supporting donors who made the foundation operational in its first years. The full list lives on our team page.
What we’ve done so far
In the foundation’s first full season (2025):
- 33 confirmed Deaf Santa Claus appearances or screenings across 11 states
- Theatrical premiere of the documentary at Cinema Salem in September 2025
- National tour expanding to nearly 20 cities through December
- Partnerships with Deaf schools, Deaf advocacy organizations, and HireSanta
- Press coverage in People, The Washington Post, DCist, NBC News, and dozens of regional outlets
None of those numbers reflect what we want the foundation to be in five years. But they reflect what one Deaf man, two filmmakers, a small board, and a community of supporters built in the first season after deciding to do it.
What we’re building toward
The foundation’s next phase is documented elsewhere in this resource section. The short version: more appearances, more training, more Deaf Santas, and a permanent shift in how the holiday industry treats Deaf children — not as a niche audience, but as kids who belong at the center of the tradition like everyone else.
This is how it started. The rest is what we do next.
