A local charity that collects and provides Christmas gifts for Edmonton families is seeing “unprecedented” demand ahead of the holidays.
The executive director of 630 CHED Santas Anonymous said the charity is currently looking at serving 20 per cent more kids than it did last year. And that’s with a week left for families to sign up for the service.
“We knew that it was going to be trending upwards for the families we are going to be serving, and we are seeing that,” Angel Benedict said.
“We are looking at these unprecedented numbers right now.”
Founded in 1955, Santas Anonymous’ mission is to see every child receive a new toy at Christmas.
Mike Derbyshire is a Santas Anonymous volunteer. When he was younger, his family received gift packages from Santas Anonymous.
“In the late ’60s, early ’70s, my mom was a single parent with three kids under the age of 12,” he explained. “Christmas was a tough time, being on social assistance — welfare, as we called it back then. There wasn’t a lot of money left over for toys.
“It was a real joyful experience knowing other people in the community cared enough about us and others to help them out. It really left a lasting impression, being able to have presents to open on Christmas Eve.”
Derbyshire started volunteering in general as a teen, as a way to give back to others, even though he said he wasn’t overly fortunate himself.
“It’s heartwarming and it fills my cup with joy every day.”
Now, his 30-year-old son is also a Santas volunteer.
“I’m trying to do four to five days a week right now. It’s a great time of the year to be giving back and helping out our community, making sure everybody has a Merry Christmas,” he said.
Benedict said the charity is still accepting monetary donations, as well as donations of toys and books. Toys for infants 12 months and younger, as well as toys for the nine to 12 age group, are in particular demand.
“We need a mixture of both,” she said. “The toy donations that come in are critical at creating really nice variety, which helps prevent the chance that somebody might receive the same two gifts in a household.
“The monetary gifts allow me to shop for those gaps that we see.”
Families in need of assistance this year have until Dec. 5 to sign up for the service. Families can sign up on the Santas Anonymous website.
Delivery weekend 2 weeks away
A big highlight for those at Santas, as well as many Edmontonians, is delivery weekend. This is when volunteers pick up all of the gift packages prepared over the past several weeks and deliver them to families in need in the city.
Delivery weekend is being held Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 this year.
“We need a lot of elves to be able to get those toy packages out to the families on delivery weekend,” Benedict said.
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Santas Anonymous needs about 1,000 drivers alone for delivery weekend, she said.
“There’s something magical about being able to go out and provide something to a family, to take the stress off of the parents, to bring joy to that child at a time that’s so precious and joyous to so many other families,” Benedict said.
“If you haven’t done it before, please come out and join us that weekend because it really is magical.”
Benedict said people interested in being delivery drivers can sign up as volunteers on their website now. Delivery spots will open up the first week of December and volunteers can pick their time slot at that time.
Benedict said Santas Anonymous will continue with the drive-thru pickup model it has had in place for the last couple of years.
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