This December, Joe Sapienza is suiting up.
For more than a decade, Joe Graham brought Christmas cheer to the Moorestown Knights of Columbus’ Annual Luncheon with Santa playing the jolly, red suit-clad fellow. When Graham passed this April, he left a void.
This December, another Joe has stepped up to take on the role. When Joe Sapienza learned the Knights were in need of a Santa Claus, he volunteered, and he said he’s eager to bring the Christmas icon to life.
Sapienza is newly knighted having joined the Knights of Columbus this past June. An active member of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, the Mount Laurel resident said he felt called to join the organization.
While Sapienza didn’t know Graham personally, he had taken his three children to visit with Graham’s Santa over the years. He said there’s something special about giving children an opportunity to meet with Santa.
“It gets them in the spirit of Christmas and believing in something even though it may not physically be real,” Sapienza said. “It helps them continue to believe and keep that innocence.”
Upon volunteering for the role, Sapienza went out and bought the red suit. He joked he doesn’t need filler to look like a “jolly, round guy,” but he will need the help of a beard and wig — at least until “some of the brown that’s left turns to grey.”
A father to four, he said even when his older children stopped believing in Santa, he tried to remind them it’s important to still believe in what Santa Claus stands for: the spirit of giving and the selflessness of providing something for others.
While Sapienza said he has done a little acting, having starred in one of Moorestown Theater Company’s productions of “Beauty and the Beast” with his two daughters, he said it’s not acting chops that he’s bringing to the role.
He said his roles as a father and religion teacher have prepared him best. He said when his youngest started the religious education program at Our Lady of Good Counsel, he would drop her off, drive to the office and found he was headed back to pick her up in a short period of time. He thought he could be using his time more wisely, and for that reason, he volunteered to start teaching religious education classes. He said it’s a combination of time spent with his own children and working with students in the religious education that allow him to relate to young children.
He said Christmas has always been a special time of the year for his family. In the Sapienza household, the Christmas lights go up shortly after Halloween, and they always encouraged their kids to be good because Santa was coming to town.
Fellow Knight Jim Cassidy said there was a fair bit of agonizing over who would take Graham’s role. He said Graham himself said that for many parents, Graham was the only Santa that their children ever met.
Cassidy said he’s glad the Christmas tradition will continue with a new person to take up the mantle. Sapienza was scheduled to play Santa at the Dec. 1 luncheon at Our Lady of Good Counsel.
“I’m hoping that the new Joe will be around for a number of years, and the same will be said about him.” Cassidy said.
