CONWAY, Ark — Seven years ago, Eric Lamb says God woke him up out of his sleep and gave him the vision of being a Christmas miracle for others and taking care of the less fortunate.
He got the idea to dress up as Santa every year and personally deliver to every home he could for family's with children across Arkansas, and now even in neighboring states.
He buys toys and gifts throughout the year with some people donating to his "workshop," an office space his day job gave him to organize for all of the families. Some of Santa's helpers consist of church volunteers.
"A normal day is getting everything together. I try to make sure every child gets at least one new outfit, a new pair of shoes, new underwear, new socks, new toothbrush, new toothpaste, floss and then the toys, and then also this year I had a lot of kids ask me for snacks," said Lamb.
Every year, he take applications from families and curates Christmas gifts for individual families and their needs. Starting at the beginning of December, he delivers to those up until Christmas.
He says over the years, he's seen some families who really struggle.
It makes him feel honored to be a blessing since he says a lot of parents will tell him if it wasn't for his kind gesture, their children wouldn't have a Christmas.
A local dealership gave Lamb a truck to help him travel even farther to deliver gifts.
"This year so far, I have 475 kids that I'm delivering to. I'm almost at the finish line. So far, I've delivered to about 400 kids so I have 75 kids to go," said Lamb.
Some families stick with Lamb and he visits them every year, like Brenell Washington and her twin boys, Nathaniel and Noah, both 3 years old.
"He blessed me the first year and the second year and this year," said Washington.
She was born with spinal muscular atrophy and her kids have a form of it, too.
Nathaniel just started walking back in October, but has to use leg braces. And after their father died from a heart attack a year ago, Lamb says he plans on being more than St. Nicholas for the boys as they get older.
"It really touched my heart when she said, 'I prayed and prayed for God to send me an angel and He sent you.' It just had me bawling and we were both bawling," said Lamb.
Washington says Lamb is not just Santa. He's basically a part of her family.
"I'm just really glad that, you know, he does what he does, because it really does help families a lot," said Washington.