The Santa of Santa Ana

George Dunseth wasn’t invited to play Santa Claus at the holiday party Sunday at the Catholic Worker Hospitality House, but he showed up anyway, decked out in a Santa hat and his own flowing white beard.

While Arnie Bazensky, a Catholic Worker volunteer who was delegated to play Santa for the day, was inside handing out gifts in a plush red Santa suit, Dunseth was outside, listening earnestly to the wishes of poor neighborhood children who had come to the party in Santa Ana.

Some children may have squirmed because of his dirty pants and tangled beard, but longtime volunteers said Dunseth, 79, is the perfect embodiment of Santa’s spirit. Charity workers who know him said he gives away most of his income from Social Security and veterans benefits, often sleeps on the street among the homeless and spends most of his time as a volunteer delivering and serving meals to the needy.

Until a few years ago, Dunseth, who has cataracts and atrophied optic nerves, insisted upon making food deliveries in a van.

That ended when police pulled him over for driving erratically and, when asked to show his driver’s license, he mistakenly pulled out a card stating he is legally blind.

“The police here have little sense of humor,” Dunseth said with a shrug.

That’s OK, Dunseth has more than enough to go around, said Dwight Smith, who manages the Catholic Worker house.

“I love George,” Smith said. “He’s irascible . . . but he’s so busy serving people, I don’t think he ever thinks about himself.”

When Smith arrived at Hospitality House four years ago, Dunseth was already a fixture at the faith-based center where volunteers live and work among the poor. Though he doesn’t live in the house full time like the young volunteers from around the country, Dunseth comes around regularly to help serve meals and brighten bleak days with silly puns and one-liners. He is equally well known at other shelters around Santa Ana.

Now that he no longer drives his van, he gets around on an old mountain bike. When Smith first met Dunseth, the elderly man was living in a subsidized apartment. He was later evicted, despite the protests of Catholic workers. He keeps his possessions in four storage units and at his daughter’s house in Santa Ana.

Dunseth embarked on his life of giving about 15 years ago. Before that, he had settled in the Philippines after being discharged from the Navy in 1946.

Dunseth loved life in the Philippines, but when his daughter got married and moved to the United States, she persuaded him to come along.

Returning to the country after 40 years, the Chicago native said he was overcome by culture shock.

One of the only things that assuaged his yearning for the Philippines was volunteer work.

But getting a straight answer out of Dunseth about how much he gives or why he does it is almost as difficult as catching a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh.

“Humanitarianism is universal,” he explained. “So I kind of fell into the job.”

With that, he climbed on his bike and pedaled away to his daughter’s house, promising to return early the next morning to help serve a Christmas meal to the homeless.

Watching him go was a contingent of teens from St. Timothy’s Church in Laguna Niguel who had given up their usual Christmas Eve plans to celebrate with poor children in Santa Ana, and were stunned by the spirit of someone who would give not just a day but every day.

“He’s like a boy Mother Teresa,” said Mallory Fox, 15, of Laguna Niguel. She said talking to Dunseth had made her reflect on her own attachment to possessions.

“Imagine living without everything we have,” she said, turning to her friends. “Think about living without our big beds, our phones, our computers and TVs. I don’t think I would like it. But I think he does.”

Her friend Jemma Khonke, 14, of Laguna Niguel, nodded. “I thought he was crazy,” she said. “But he’s not.”