NEW YORK — Santa Claus ISN’T coming to town.

The group that puts on the city’s annual Sidewalk Santa Parade said its last bell has been jingled.

Additional Photos

Charity workers dressed as Santa Claus walk up Fifth Avenue in New York in 2011 during the Volunteers of America annual Sidewalk Santa Parade to raise money for holiday food for needy residents. Volunteers of America-Greater New York says the parade and its Sidewalk Santa fundraising efforts have been retired, and the organization is using other more effective ways to raise money for its “Hope and Hearth” food voucher program. The parade traditionally took place the Friday after Thanksgiving to kick off the organization’s program that would have Santas trying to get donations from people passing by their sidewalk locations. The Associated Press

Charity workers dressed as Santa Claus walk up Fifth Avenue in New York in 2011 during the Volunteers of America annual Sidewalk Santa Parade to raise money for holiday food for needy residents. Volunteers of America-Greater New York says the parade and its Sidewalk Santa fundraising efforts have been retired, and the organization is using other more effective ways to raise money for its “Hope and Hearth” food voucher program. The parade traditionally took place the Friday after Thanksgiving to kick off the organization’s program that would have Santas trying to get donations from people passing by their sidewalk locations. The Associated Press

Volunteers of America-Greater New York said the parade and its Sidewalk Santa fundraising efforts have been retired and it’s using other ways, such as online giving and money from private donors, to raise funds for its Hope and Hearth food voucher program.

“It was just not the most effective way to raise money,” vice president Rachel Weinstein said Monday.

The parade traditionally took place the Friday after Thanksgiving, with the Santa-costumed participants marching up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. The program also had Santas staff locations on city streets to try to get donations from people passing by. The organization has had a Sidewalk Santa program since the early part of the 20th century.

But recruiting workers willing to stand outside in the cold for several hours has become increasingly difficult, Weinstein said, and the resources used on the program didn’t bring enough of a return.

So after discussing it over the past year, the organization decided it was time to call a halt to the program, Weinstein said.

The group is trying to expand the food voucher program, which gives homeless and limited-income families food vouchers that can be used in grocery stores, she said.