Christmas came early for Santa’s Anonymous.
The Banff charity, which provides food and toy hampers to families in need over Christmas, received a donation of more than 5,000 toys from MasterCard Canada on Sunday, November 30.
As part of their Priceless Surprises campaign, the credit card company is surprising people and organizations with gifts over the holiday season. The company had planned to deliver a truck full of toys mid-week, but Friday’s snowstorm in Banff delayed their arrival until Sunday. They kept the big donation a secret, however, and didn't tell Town staff who they were or how much they were donating.
Town employee Loretta Adamson agreed to meet the donors at Town Hall on her day off, not expecting the huge donation.
“They kept calling saying they were on their way. At first I just told them to bring the donation to my house because I had other plans on Sunday and figured I could just bring the toys in with me on Monday,” Adamson said. “But they insisted I meet them at Town Hall and now I’m glad I did!”
When MasterCard arrived, they asked Adamson to come outside to see the donation, and she was surprised to see the Priceless Surprises transport truck full of toys.
“It was incredible,” Adamson said. “I was so surprised. I never expected this to happen.”
The toy donations will be packaged with food hampers and Santa’s Anonymous will deliver them to families in Banff and Lake Louise who are in need over Christmas. Any extra toys will be given to other hamper programs and homeless shelters in the region.
While the huge toy donation is a boon for the charity, they’re still collecting cash/cheque donations in order to purchase fresh, healthy food for the Christmas hampers. In a new move for 2014, Santa’s Anonymous is no longer collecting food donations, and will instead purchase all food to ensure it’s of the highest quality.
For more information on Santa’s Anonymous, visit Banff.ca/santas