Secret Santa elves gather gifts
photo credit: Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership

Secret Santa's aren't just for office Christmas parties; Sonoma County's Secret Santa is all about getting gifts to those in need

For the past 36 years, the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership has been coordinating a gift giving program in Sonoma County during the holiday season.

“We work with over 84 different non-profits and it is a gift giving program to help those in need in Sonoma County," said Lauren Oblad, Secret Santa Coordinator for the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership.

She says they partner with local businesses, agencies, and volunteers to coordinate gift requests with the public who get to play Secret Santa and fulfill those gift wishes.

“We get all kinds of requests, but really, what we get the most of are just those basic things, like, clothing, jackets, food," Oblad said.

Oblad says some gifts are for a whole family in need of extra love and care during a tough time.

On average, the Secret Santa program collects 25,000 wishes each year. This year there are over 13,000 gift requests printed on red hearts.

“There’s over a hundred different tree locations that our hearts are hanging on. So it really comes to the public helping us out either by picking a heart and purchasing that gift, or by donating online to help support our program. Some of the hearts that come back that don't have a gift yet, we use those donated funds to go out and buy that person something for Christmas," Oblad explained.

The Center also deploys hundreds of “holiday elves” to complete various tasks, like picking up gifts from businesses, or helping in the warehouse where the gifts are collected.

The final day to donate a gift is Thursday, December 19th. Learn more at secretsantanow.org.