The health and safety protocols surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have forced Santa's helpers to think outside the gift box this year but the goal of a dedicated team of community volunteers and agencies remains the same: "No household without food, no children without toys."
Low Income People Involvement of Nipissing (L.I.P.I.) Executive Director Lana Mitchell says the holiday assistance program is seen as a housing and sustainability initiative.
"Pay your rent and we'll make sure your kids have Christmas," says Mitchell.
While it might look a little different this holiday season behind the scenes, the Santa Fund, the Salvation Army, and L.I.P.I. will be supporting qualifying households by providing toys and Christmas food hampers, carrying on a long-running local holiday tradition.
The L.I.P.I. toy drive volunteers have spent hours organizing the future gifts into stations, as is customary, but this year they are also making sure the toys have spent time in quarantine before spreading them out according to age category — and to make sure there is ample room for physical distancing.
Mitchell says toy drive volunteers are working in shifts this year to keep the operation moving as the holidays approach. Where the toy drive might have up to 20 volunteers working together in some years, they have pared that number back to half a dozen at a time on the floor for health and safety reasons.
"It's a team effort, there's no way we could do it otherwise," Mitchell tells BayToday as a team member from the Crisis Centre arrives with lunch to fuel the volunteers.
As Mitchell holds a Baby Yoda, she explains her team has gone to great lengths to secure some of the more popular toys that appear frequently in letters from children and there are some wonderful surprises in store for area kids. She says L.I.P.I and the Santa Fund team up to provide these "significant gifts" for each child in the family.
Also included in the packages that reach hundreds of families across a vast district encompassing North Bay and many of its surrounding areas are items donated or purchased by many community members and agencies, including clothing, stocking stuffers, toothbrushes, books, arts and crafts, games, and puzzles.
"And, everybody gets Christmas pyjamas," adds Mitchell.
Also included in the Santa Fund baskets are all the fixings needed for a turkey dinner and a grocery card to fill in any gaps.
Applications are still being accepted until this Friday and, while the application process has been moved online this year, Mitchell says arrangements for families can still be made over the phone or at L.I.P.I.'s Main Street East office.
