12/15/2025
👉 Final Round-up on Our 2025 Be a Santa for a Senior Holiday Gift Drive 👈
I’m proud to say that we’ve wrapped up another successful “Be a Santa for a Senior” Holiday Gift Drive! ❤️🎅🧑🎄💚
I think you’ll find our grand total of gift bags donated to the southwest Toronto Meals on Wheels (MoW) program for the 2025 holiday season as astounding as I did:
274!!! 🤩😱
For some context, this number surpasses both our 2024 record of 159 bags AND our ambitious 2025 goal of 240 bags.
This year’s 274 total included 42 gift bags thoughtfully filled by community members, plus 232 gift bags put together by my elf prep team using all the lovingly hand-made items from our knitting elves and generous monetary and bulk or individual gift item donations from community members, friends, and family.
Heartfelt thanks to those who donated thoughtfully filled bags and much-needed funds and gift items, including all the knit/crochet items made with dedicated time and love: S.M., L.C., J.S., S.M., R.W., S.S., J.R., D.P., A.W., S.S., T.D., L.P., A.D., G.B., A.M.L., S.A., C.L., C.G., M.M., N.L., A.E., R.B., J.M. & co-workers, No Frills King W., E.P., L.H., F.G., J.S., N.J., O.D. & F., A., J.Z., the team at DogFather & Co., J.S., A.L., J.M., the customers who donated cash at Lao Thai Restaurant, and the anonymous donors who dropped off items at the restaurant.
Every single donation we receive is so important, but I would like to give extra-special shoutouts to some people who went above and beyond in providing support this year:
➡️ Lits Boonthajit-Kong, her family, and staff at Lao Thai Restaurant (4 Gladstone), for acting as a community drop-off location for our gift bags and items AND encouraging customers to donate their change. On top of making gift bag drop-off easier for our supporters, Lao Thai raised an amazing $418.15 for Be a Santa for a Senior!
➡️ Our knitting elves (and Tracy P., who made some sweet crafty ornaments).
➡️ Our superstar knitter (more than 100 hand-knit items created and donated this year alone) and one of our biggest supporters over the years, Teena D.
➡️ Anne Marie L., who kick-started the self-care item donations this year by buying items in bulk from an auction and also spent significant time helping me shop the auctions and a big warehouse sale.
➡️ My girl Christina G., who did two Waterbridge Chocolate Outlet runs with/for me and hauled everything from Pickering to Toronto (she was also a knitting and bag prep elf).
➡️ Corrine S., who took me to BargainShark to buy a whole bunch of stuff for the drive and helped me do a lot of loading/unloading. I don’t know how she found the time with all of the charity work she does on her own. Such a huge supporter the last few years of the drive.
➡️ Ashley Elizabeth, who not only made her own kind donations, but also hit the pavement and got our flyers put up at some businesses around Liberty Village.
➡️ Chrissy F., Sue S. (thanks for the pizza), Danielle M., Christina G., Emily G., Lorelei, and my sis Tracy P., who were the best prep elves a girl could ask for, donating their time and energy to help with the grueling gift bag assembly process on Friday, December 12, rallying together to put together 232 bags, each containing something warm, something for self-care, something fun/decorative, and something tasty, all in six hours. They also provided some much-needed emotional support to a very frazzled Gwen. ❤ 😊
➡️ My neighbours, Jim and Alexi, for volunteering to help with moving, safeguarding, and loading all of our gift bags on pick-up day, which was Saturday, December 13.
➡️ The management and staff at my building, especially Mila and Carlos, who were a big help this year to make things easier for pick-up day.
➡️ Rita, my MoW liaison at West Neighbourhood House (WNH); Gina, Rob, and Yen, the MoW volunteers who helped with the big job of loading up all 274 bags and then unloading them back at WNH; and all the wonderful MoW/WNH volunteers who will deliver the gift bags to the MoW program recipients. Thank you for everything you do to care for some of our most vulnerable society members.
➡️ My partner, Jesse Hill, for being patient with this annual labour of love of mine—especially the fact that it totally takes over our home—and for helping me transport a seemingly endless amount of bags and boxes on drop-off days, shopping days, bag prep day, and final pick-up day.
➡️ And all the others who offered help in many ways, whether it was friends offering a ride for shopping, a friend (thanks Diz) offering his business location as a drop-off spot or asking a business owner acquaintance if they can help (thanks Olivier), or the all-important sharing and promoting of the gift drive on social media. Plus, the kind and generous souls who do so much good in the world and inspire me to do my tiny part. Thank you! ❤
Our total of 274 gift bags is a huge deal for a tiny initiative like this. I can’t thank you all enough; know that each and every one of you had a hand in making someone’s holidays a little brighter. It really warms my heart to see such kindness, so I hope it can do the same for you. With all the negative things happening in this world, and with the difficulties faced by many seniors and special needs adults who live on their own, one small gift can mean so much. And I know we can all use a little more light.
Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, blessed Yule, season’s greetings…and happy holidays!
~ In gratitude, Gwen Potter
Be a Santa for a Senior Holiday Gift Drive ❤️❤️❤️
P.S. Scroll through the pics for a glimpse of all the beautiful donations and hard work by knitting elves, shopping elves, prep elves, and pick-up day elves. 😍
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🫶 The goal of the Be a Santa for a Senior Holiday Gift Drive is to make the holidays a little brighter for isolated seniors and marginalized, chronically ill, disabled, or special needs persons in the southwestern Toronto communities through our commitment to provide holiday gift bags to participants in the Meals on Wheels (MoW) program run out of West Neighbourhood House (Ossington/Dundas W.). Most of these men and women are over 55 and live alone.
Our gift drive is wrapped for 2025, but, as long as life cooperates, we'll endeavour to do it all next year! Please follow and like.
