Want to be a Santa? Volunteers needed to help with this year's Elf Dispatch
It didn't take long for the requests for gifts from Santa to fill up Cindy Chavez's inbox after she began accepting lists on the Pantry 279 website about 5 p.m. Nov. 29.
Two days later, Chavez closed the Elf Dispatch request form.
"It's been open 48 hours and I have too many (requests) already," she said Wednesday afternoon.
Chavez, who operates Pantry 279 in Ellettsville, said the request form went live later in the day than planned due to some difficulties and she had people calling, asking when it would open.
"It's like an explosion," she said of the number of requests that poured in. "The desperate ones kept calling. ... Now I've got an insane number of kids."
Chavez has a 5-inch binder that's almost full, with each family getting their own page for between one and eight children. Each page includes the children's names, three things they've requested, information provided by parents about anything special their "Santa" should know.
Then Chavez pairs each child with a volunteer "Santa" who purchases gifts for them by 7 p.m. Dec. 16.
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Last year, because of COVID-19, all gifts were delivered on porches or through direct mail to keep the kids and Santas safe.
"That worked really well," Chavez said. "It cut down on the number of packages my people had to handle."
This year, Santas have several options for delivering their gifts. They can drop presents off at Elf Dispatch headquarters, which is not at Pantry 279; they can deliver presents to their child's porch for a contactless dropoff; or they can direct mail the presents to the child's home address.
The Elf Dispatch helped 1,397 children and three senior citizens last year. Seniors must get permission to be on the gift list, Chavez said.
"Even though they're 90 years old, they think they are 8," she said.
Chavez isn't certain that every child on the list will receive gifts. She needs an outpouring of help from Santas to ensure there are presents for each one. People who can't be Santas but still want to help can donate cash, which Chavez will use to purchase presents.
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One reason Chavez believes the Elf Dispatch fills up quickly is because it serves not only younger kids but teenagers as well. Young people as old as 18 were able to sign up if they are still in high school. Most other agencies take children up to age 12, Chavez said.
As the mother of a teen herself, Chavez knows that teens are in need of presents during the holidays as much as younger children. She believes that showing kindness through presents may help keep some teens from becoming too depressed or stressed.
"Teenagers are chock-full of hormones," she said. "They have a lot of stuff going on at school. Teenage suicides are at an all-time high right now."
Anyone who wants to become a Santa can sign up at pantry279.org/elf-dispatch/elf-dispatch-santa-signup or go to the Pantry 279 website, pantry279.org/.
Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com, 812-331-4359 or @ckugler on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Pantry 279's Elf Dispatch looking for a few good Santas
