Limestone Coast children can use Telstra payphones to call Santa Claus and his festive friends for free this holiday season.

Children can call #HO HO HO (# 46 46 46) and press 1 to speak to Santa, 2 for Mrs Claus and 3 for an Elf.

Telstra Regional General Manager Michael Patterson said the initiative runs until Christmas Eve and Telstra will donate $1 from every call made to Santa’s Workshop to the Salvation Army.

“They help vulnerable people in the community which is a really good service,” Mr Patterson said.

“They play an important role over Christmas for vulnerable people and they are a really good partner of ours so we decided to support them.”

There are more than 70 payphones in the South East people can use and Mr Patterson said the initiative was also an opportunity for children to learn how to use a payphone.

“Many young children do not have mobile phones, so if they need to stay connected to a parent or a loved one or a caretaker they can familiarise themselves via this action,” he said.

“People make 20 million calls a year still from payphones and there are more than 15,000 across the nation and 3000 of them also have free Wi-Fi.”

Mr Patterson said the national campaign was a huge success last year and raised lots of money.

“I have done it myself and Santa and the others ask the children questions and refer to them if they’re on the list, if they have been good and all those sorts of things, it is a great interaction,” he said.