Impact of Santa's Angels continues to grow, 20 years after group's birth

As Prince Edward Island's first significant snow of the season touched ground on the Island, so did Jason Bowie. 

"We drove in that storm yesterday from Riverview, New Brunswick," Bowie said in a Dec. 22 interview. "Scariest drive over the Confederation Bridge I've ever experienced." 

While many people were hunkering down, Bowie was making his way to Skye View Farms, a potato farm in the central P.E.I. community of Elmwood. 

What would typically be an hour and a half drive to the Confederation Bridge, plus another 40 minutes to the farm — just over two hours total — turned into a trip that took double that to complete, he said. 

His reason for the long, snowy drive? To be part of Santa's Angels, a volunteer group that prepares food boxes and gifts that Santa himself delivers to families on P.E.I. on Christmas Day every year. 

Santa's Angels has helped the big guy deliver food boxes and gifts to hundreds of families across the province for the last two decades.

What started out as a handful of folks wandering the streets of Charlottetown on Christmas morning has now, in its 20th year, grown into an operation that requires dozens of U-Haul trucks to transport packed boxes across the Island. 

'All the elves are working hard'

This year, the group assembled 900 food boxes to be delivered to 750 families, said Jennifer MacArthur, a volunteer co-ordinator with the organization. 

"We have 26 routes that go out on Christmas Day, from Tignish to Souris," she said. 

While she had planned for 60 volunteers, closer to 80 people arrived at Skye View Farms on Dec. 22 to form the assembly line, she said. 

"People always show up… people always want to help on P.E.I.," she said. "All the elves are working hard." 

The volunteer assembly line was putting together a pallet of 50 boxes in an average of four minutes, said Alex Docherty, the owner of Skye View Farms. 

He estimated it would take less than 90 minutes for the group to prepare all 900 boxes needed this year. 

"Same as Ford figured out how to build cars every so many minutes, we can fill a box in seconds," he said. 

Docherty said he's been doing this for about 10 years and it continues growing each year. 

"It's better than having money," he said. "It's better than anything I do." 

The joy of giving

Kenny Zakem, who founded Santa's Angels in 2004 when he set out on Christmas morning to deliver some leftover toys, said he didn't imagine the effort growing into what it is now.

"That many years ago, I didn't even think of an organization, per se," he said. "There was a food drive at the [Angel] restaurant. If you [came to] visit Santa and leave a donation of food, then you would get a toy."

The joy the volunteers feel from being part of the initiative keeps many of them coming back for years. 

Krista Giddings said she joined Santa's Angels in its second year and has been coming back every December since.

As a single mother, Giddings said Santa's Angels was an opportunity to show her 10-year-old daughter that "we have more than you realize. 

Christmas isn't about what's actually under the tree, but what you… get to give forward.— Krista Giddings

"These kids that we go to see, they don't get the big presents that many other kids get," she said. "And in kids' minds, Santa brings them something because they're good, and a lot of these kids don't realize… that differential for money." 

"But these kids get a visit from Santa Claus and that is the most special, magical thing you could give a child." 

Giddings said her daughter is 30 now and expecting a child of her own this holiday season. 

"Christmas isn't about what's actually under the tree, but what you… get to give forward," she said. "I think that's a great thing to teach somebody and I can't wait to instill these same values in my grandson when he comes along.

"Being able to give back is probably the best gift you can give… Those volunteers that show up every year, they come back because of that powerful gift," she said. 

Christmas miracles

Keith Kennedy is another volunteer who joined Santa's Angels early on. He was the founding director of the Adventure Group, which offers various programs to at-risk youth. 

He said the best way to explain the organization to others is to tell them: "Just be prepared to see a Christmas miracle." 

Poverty is invisible. You don't know who is hurting at Christmas time. You don't know what they're going through.— Keith Kennedy

He added: "Poverty is invisible. You don't know who is hurting at Christmas time. You don't know what they're going through." 

What's beautiful about the Santa's Angels initiative is that it's "an equalizer in the community," he said. 

"A lot of kids are helped that way because when they do go back to school, it's not like, 'What did you get for Christmas?' and then there's that shame base that comes out of, 'Well, I didn't really get too much,'" he said. 

"Santa arrived. It happened. Just like the rest of the world."