The youthful Santa recently spearheaded a Christmas gift drive on behalf of Riley Hospital for Children. “And I want to do it every year,” B.J. Yoho said.

For the 7-year-old Bloomfield boy whose initials stand for “Bruce James,” Riley Hospital has been a lifelong second home. Born with spina bifida, an underdeveloped right ear canal and lacking one kidney, Yoho’s first surgery came the day he was born. All totaled, he’s undergone 13 surgeries, including the amputation of his right leg, according to his mother, Blaine.

But this year, the Eastern Greene Elementary School first-grader rallied teachers, businesses and church groups around Bloomfield in a toy drive for fellow patients at Riley Hospital. Distributing flyers describing his own experiences at the hospital and kicking in $20 of his own money, Yoho gathered and delivered 100 brand new toys to the hospital Dec. 7, according to Jason Mueller, spokesman for the Riley Children’s Foundation.

To friends and family, he is now “B.J. Claus.”

“It is unique,” Mueller said of the 7-year-old’s initiative and organizational achievement. “It speaks volumes of a kid going above and beyond.”

Last year, Yoho put his drawing skills to work, creating a snowman that was selected for the annual Riley Holiday Card fundraising program. That same design is now on the 2009 Riley Holiday Ornaments, which are available for sale at M&I Bank branches and GasAmerica.

“B.J. has obviously experienced a lot at Riley Hospital,” Mueller said, noting that he has a patient’s perspective of what children and families there go through each year. “It’s very impressive for him to do this.”

Blaine, a single mother who stays at home to care for Yoho’s ongoing medical needs, said this year’s project took a couple of months to prepare, but it’s been on his mind for the past two years.

“He has always wanted to collect toys and give back to kids at Riley Hospital, but he has been too sick in the past,” she said. “He hopes to do this every year.”

Larry Leonard, Yoho’s teacher, said the project was beneficial for all involved.

“He’s just their friend and they don’t really notice his differences,” Leonard said of Yoho’s relationship to classmates with whom he’s shared a classroom since preschool. Topics like spina bifida and disabilities are weighty for first-graders, but they give kids an opportunity to appreciate what they have as well as what they and others can do to help, he said. “It was really cool because all the kids are excited to see his picture in the newspaper,” he said, adding how impressed the class was with the publication of his artwork.

And, last year, the race fan got a chance to bowl with NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon at his annual charity bowling tournament for Riley Hospital.

Yoho himself, an only child, rattled off names of caregivers at the hospital like friends from the school yard when asked, and offered “Merry Christmas” as his parting comment.

Mueller said Riley Hospital receives 220,000 patient visits each year from children in all of Indiana’s 92 counties.

Blaine said plans are already under way for Christmas 2010. “We’re going to try and do it again next year, but we do want to start earlier,” she said.