Wednesday was the launch of the CJWW Secret Santa Campaign at City Hall, with the Caroling Firefighters singing a song and Mayor Charlie Clark donating the first toy.
This is the 40th anniversary of Secret Santa, which began in 1983, when Saskatoon radio icon, the late Denny Carr, organized a toy give away for children in need at Christmas.
General Manager of Saskatoon Media Group, and Board President of the Secret Santa Foundation Vic Dubois says in 2006, food was added to the family hampers.
Secret Santa takes care of 800 hampers for families, which totals around 3,000 people getting some Christmas cheer.
Dubois says with the affordability crisis, organizations like Secret Santa are more important than ever, especially at Christmas time. We don’t ever want to see a family not have a good Christmas dinner and a young child not have at least one brand new toy under the Christmas tree.
The CJWW Secret Santa campaign is looking for new, unwrapped toys for children 12 and under and cash donations are accepted through the Secret Santa website.
Local drop-off locations include:
- Any Saskatoon Fire Station
- Any Coop Grocery Store in Saskatoon, Warman, Martensville
- Fountain Tire on Millar Avenue
- Saskatoon City Hall
- CJWW/Saskatoon Media Group
- Saskatoon Mastermind Toys Locations
- Toys R us
- Saskatoon Best Buy Locations
- Nutrien Tower at River Landing
- East Tower at River Landing
- KMPG Building at River Landing
- Zak’s Home Hardware in Hague, Warman and Saskatoon
Donations can be made here.
