NORTHAMPTON — Santa Claus needed a contingency plan.

So, one winter evening in 2009, he led his son-in-law, Harry Jekanowski Jr., away from a holiday gathering at the Claus house on Chestnut Street in Florence.

In a room away from the gathering, Claus had carefully laid out the entirety of his iconic repertoire: the jet-black boots, the white gloves, the ruby-red suit, the beard. Jekanowski and Claus stared down at the suit.

“I’m not going to be here forever,” Jekanowski recalled Claus telling him in that moment. What Claus needed, he explained to his son-in-law, was a successor.

For more than two decades, during the non-holiday months, Claus was known locally as Jack Dunphy. Unbeknownst to most, the Florence man portrayed Santa Claus in the village’s annual holiday parade as well as at Look Park’s Christmas festivities. Dunphy maintained a low profile when it came to his double life as Father Christmas, and that’s how he liked it, said Jekanowski, who is clerk of the courts in Hampshire Superior Court.

“He took (anonymity) really seriously, and he ingrained that in me,” he said. Dunphy, who was 78, died in 2011.

This year, as part of the Gazette’s Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund, Helen Whitham, 72, pledged a $25 donation in the name of her late neighbor, Dunphy, who she still refers to, endearingly, as Santa Claus. The fund provides certificates redeemable at participating local retailers to eligible families who can use them to buy holiday gifts at participating stores through the end of 2016.

Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers to families for each child from age 1 to 14. Eligible families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett.

“Given in memory of Jack, the best Santa ever,” Whitham’s donation description reads.

“He was quite the fixture,” she said in an interview. “He loved being around kids. He loved kids and, every year, really looked forward to being Santa.”

Her grown son as well as her grandchildren each grew up with Dunphy as Santa — and they were none the wiser about his true identity, Whitham said.

This season marked Jekanowski’s third as Santa Claus, and it’s a role he takes to heart.

“Just like you’re a performer on stage, you have to get in the zone, and I have to think about what I say,” Jekanowski said. As for the kids who come to talk to him when he’s donning the red suit, he said he likes to offer them reassurance when they inevitably inquire about their naughty-or-nice list standing.

“One of my favorites is ‘you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to try your very best,’” Jekanowski said.

And for the youngsters who let Claus know they didn’t receive what they wanted last Christmas?

“Just like you try your best, Santa tries his very best,” he said he tells them. “If it really bothers you, be like Elsa and ‘let it go,’” Jekanowski quipped in reference to the hit Disney film “Frozen.”

Jekanowski added he isn’t hanging up the red suit anytime soon.

“Right now,” he said, “I couldn’t imagine not doing it.”

Berkshire Children and Families at 220 Russell St. in Hadley, verifies families’ eligibility for the toy fund and the Gazette covers costs associated with the drive, freeing all donations to fund the vouchers. Most families who receive assistance are referred by social service agencies.

The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Deals & Steals, One Pearl St., Northampton; JCPenney, 341 Russell St., Hadley; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Wilson’s Dept. Store, 258 Main St., Greenfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; and Target, 367 Russell St., Hadley.

Donations to the Toy Fund may be dropped off at or mailed to the Daily Hampshire Gazette at 115 Conz St. in Northampton, 01060, or made through Gazettenet at toyfund.gazettenet.com.

Michael Majchrowicz canbe reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.