Santa Claus made a special trip to visit scores of children and their families who were invited to participate in the eighth Annual ABC party.

In partnership with Genentech, NorthBay Healthcare once again collected toys, offered arts, crafts, food, music and fun for families of patients of NorthBay’s A Baby’s Coming (ABC) Clinic, which serves low- and no-income families.

Because of the increased visitor restrictions in the lobby of the hospital, this year’s party moved to United Methodist Church, which is just down the street from NorthBay Medical Center.

The room was festively adorned with tables of toys, candy canes, a tree and of course, a special chair for visits with Santa.

Children were invited to make a craft with members of the NorthBay Guild, and then patiently waited their turn for a visit with Santa. After that, they could pick out the toy of their choice from a table with hundreds of toys.

“It’s great to see the smiles on all these little faces,” said Diane Harris, director of the ABC Clinic.

Many of the toys were donated by employees the night before at a fundraiser sponsored by NorthBay Healthcare Foundation.