Delivering holiday hampers of food, toys to families in need

Volunteers – or “elves” – were at the Edmonton EXPO Centre Saturday to help with the 19th Holiday Hamper program.

The volunteers helped deliver the hampers – made up of turkeys, vegetables, and even toys – to families in need.

“So the program is a really unique experience where folks in Edmonton get to sign up to adopt a family and then you go out and buy groceries and you buy gifts for the children,” said Jennifer Sheehan with the Holiday Hamper Foundation.

“The elves are actually the folks that sign up to adopt the family. So what they do is they sign up online, they become elves, and then they get to hand deliver the baskets to the families in and around Edmonton.”

Inside the Expo Centre on Saturday were more volunteers helping coordinate the delivery and reception of food drop-offs.

Sheehan says the people behind the scenes are crucial to the event.

“All these folks here are here to respond to those questions and make sure that delivery day goes off without a hitch,” she said.

Since COVID, the program has switched to a drive-thru pickup, which is different from years prior.

Sheehan says even with the change, they are still supporting around 1,500 families every year. With the success of the drive-thru, the program isn’t looking to change back any time soon.

“The elves are really appreciative of how efficient the system is and how great the volunteers are, so we’re going to keep that in place for the next little bit,” said Sheehan

Anyone interested in supporting the cause can donate here.