SAN ANTONIO – Roughly 7,000 volunteers passed through a warehouse at Port San Antonio with a collective mission: to make sure some 30,000 local children have gifts under the tree this Christmas.
For 57 years running, the non-profit organization Elf Louise has been collecting donated toys and relying on volunteers to sort, wrap and deliver them to families who qualify.
The mission began in 1968 when Louise Locker decided to gather toys for 13 families in need at Christmas.
Elf Louise now relies on 200 different agencies to help them select which families will receive gifts.
“Community organizations, a veterans housing administration. We have a lot of schools, the food bank, the housing agencies through the city,” said Karen Gordon, the executive director of Elf Louise. “We also check the list with family services or with Angel Tree Salvation Army to ensure that families aren’t doubled, so that we can save that spot for another family.”
Elf Louise also relies on Santa teams to help deliver the gifts.
“We have 410 Santa teams. Each Santa team has three to five members,” Gordon said. “So there’s 1300 there at minimum.”
KSAT’s Myra Arthur joined volunteers to wrap gifts. Watch the full video above.
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