A long-running volunteer-sponsored Salt Spring event is about to gear up for the holiday season — and is seeking new members, particularly those interested in leadership roles.
For more than three decades, Santa’s Workshop has been providing toys and gifts to needy children at Christmas; those toys are gathered, organized, and distributed by a hard-working core of volunteers.
“We come together for only one month before Christmas,” said coordinator Wendy Eggertson, who has led the group for the last several years, “and have a lot of fun doing it.”
Eggertson said this year that would be from Nov. 21 to Dec. 16, and hopes to see new volunteers interested in sharing leadership with two or three other people for a year, with the intent of them taking on those responsibilities with confidence the following year.
“We are a finely oiled machine, with responsibilities clearly delineated, and jobs spread amongst many volunteers,” said Eggertson. “The goal would be to get a few individuals to share the leadership.”
Responsibilities would include communicating with past and potential volunteers, arranging space for the workshop, communicating with the media, arranging for distribution of gift collection boxes, writing and processing applications, communicating with applicants, arranging gift preparation and distribution schedule, arranging and processing gift certificates and pool passes and “basically overseeing the running of the workshop,” said Eggertson.
“We have many dedicated volunteers who come together every year to provide for children at Christmas who might not receive anything at all, if it were not for the Workshop,” she said. “Parents have been so grateful over the years. This alone makes it a most worthwhile and gratifying endeavour.”
The first planning meeting will be in the second week of October; for information and to volunteer, contact Eggertson at 250-221-2381.