Megan Pastoria is an Experience Delivery Manager for OnStar, which is once again joining NORAD to help track Santa’s Christmas Eve journey.
Beginning on the morning of December 18th and until Christmas Eve, kids and kids at heart can talk to Santa! To make the Christmas story even sweeter, each time someone pushes the blue OnStar button to find out where Santa is, a one-dollar contribution will be made to the American Red Cross (up to 25 thousand dollars).
For 15 years, OnStar has collaborated with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to provide real-time updates during Santa’s annual flight using NORAD’s official Santa location data. To date, OnStar located Santa more than 100,000 times, bringing joy to many customers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Interview Excerpts
JIM MONAGHAN – Beginning on December 18, and continuing through Christmas Eve, OnStar is working with NORAD to provide updates on Santa’s annual track. How big an operation is this for you, Megan?
MEGAN PASTORIA – This is huge and such an exciting time of year. Our OnStar members can press the blue button in their Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC or Buick vehicle, get to an advisor, and ask for Santa’s whereabouts. And then new this year, if you are a Guardian app user, you can also track Santa’s whereabouts and call Santa directly.
JM – This whole thing with NORAD happened by accident, as I’m sure you know, back in the mid-50s, there was a department store that took a newspaper ad out, call a number, see where Santa is. Well, the number got printed wrong in the newspaper and it ended up with the continental air defense in Colorado. And some poor guy answers the phone and can I talk to Santa? And he didn’t know what was going on, but an officer there picked up on what was happening. And then for the rest of the night, they played along with it. And it just became this tradition and has evolved into what we have today. It’s a wonderful story and it speaks to the magic of the season, Megan.
MP – It does. And we also have partnered with the Red Cross where every call that we get, we donate one dollar to the Red Cross, up to $25,000.
JM – If you don’t have OnStar in your vehicle or you’re away from your vehicle I should say, there’s a phone number that you’ll be able to call.
MP – Correct. So it’s through the blue button or if you have the Guardian app. So it’s an app that we’ve also got for active members with a subscription. There will be, if you have the latest version, you’ll see the Santa hat on there starting December 18. And you can press the button and you can track where Santa is. You can also talk directly to Santa to find out if you’re on the naughty or nice list. You can ask Santa for your wish list. And you can also hear a Christmas story from Santa.
If you happen to be away from your vehicle, you can call OnStar at 8884ONSTAR. That’s 888-466-7827 and of course, you can always go to the NORAD Santa site, which is noradsanta.org.
