All Jonah Simmons said he wanted was a coronavirus cure to save the world.
This holiday season, a 10-year-old boy from Florida is back with a different request for Santa.
“Dear Santa, it’s me Jonah. I remember you? I was the one who asked for a COVID cure,” he wrote in a letter addressed to the North Pole and shared with CNN. “BTW, So much for the comment! You helped save lives. This year, may I spread your happiness around the world by wearing a Santa costume?”
His mother, Doe Simmons, says that Jonah writes his own Santa letters, without the help of his parents.
With the threats of a relentless virus and Omicron Edition still haunting a weary nation, Jonah has big plans for the Santa suit.
“I want to wear this and walk around the neighborhood and spread the joy of Santa, asking people what they want for Christmas,” the fifth grader told CNN.
Jonah’s mother says she is not positive whether or not her son still believes in Santa Claus.
“But Jonah has experienced Santa-like moments. For example, last year he sent his Christmas greetings to the universe and it came true to some extent,” she says.
“I think writing that letter, even though he didn’t believe in Santa, had the potential for him to have some control over the problem.[of the pandemic], It was their way of communicating their feelings and expressing what they wanted.”
Helping others is nothing new for Jonah
Jonah has been spreading joy in his community of Parkland for years.
Growing up in Parkland, where the 2018 massacre killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, it affected Jonah and other local children, his mother says.
“What happened here had a huge impact on the children here. He was in middle school, and his school was closed that day,” she says. “I think like Jonah, you have kids here who are of decent mind and want to make a difference… When he sees the effect his help has on others, he is going to help. Wants to do more.”
Jonah turned 10 in July, and in exchange for the gift, he asked his family and friends to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Her birthday effort raised $1,000 in donations from all over family and friends—even her favorite employee at the local Public Store, her mother says.
“It was so long, I was bullied for it,” he says. “Some people called me a girl.”
Jonah’s good deeds are not limited to birthdays. He works to help his community throughout the year, including donating and sorting meals for the homeless with the Feeding South Florida organization and packing holiday gifts for children.
Doe Simmons says her son’s charity begins close to home with his grandparents, who are in their 90s and live nearby. Jonah takes out his trash every week, keeps the car doors open for them and helps them with his walker in the elevator, she says.
This is a promising doctor whose medicine is love
Jonah has long found ways to spread happiness. At the age of 3 he began dressing up as a doctor to visit loved ones who were sick.
“Ever since he was a little kid, he’s always wanted to dress up as doctors,” says his father, Joe Simmons. “He dressed up as a doctor because he loved medicine. He would visit family members in the hospital, examine their lives, talk to nurses, and prescribe a special medicine for them: love.”
At the start of the pandemic, Jonah asked his parents to buy a “pandemic suit” with personal protective equipment that health care workers wear to the hospital. He told them that he wanted one in terms of visiting relatives in the hospital and prescribing his love medicine.
Jonah hasn’t needed to do this yet, so he mostly wears homemade clothes when he’s treating his stuffed bear.
“His bear is very well taken care of,” says his mother.
Jonah has big plans for his 11th birthday
“It really turned him into a public servant,” Doe Simmons says.
Jonah wants to be a lot when he grows up. Most of the days he tells people that he wants to become a doctor, lawyer or police officer. But he thinks he can make a big difference as the leader of the free world.
“My best goal is to be president,” he says. “That way, I can change a lot of things and make decisions that help other people.”
Till then he will continue to help the people of his community.
Jonah already has big plans for his 11th birthday next July. He is hoping that by then Kovid-19 will be a thing of the past, so he can go to the sleeping camp without a mask.
She has also signed up to be an ambassador for the homeless. And once again he plans to use his birthday to raise money for charity. Maybe he’s wearing his Santa suit, too.