The Santa Claus Fund is a Toronto tradition built by our readers, donors and volunteers.
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Fund → build → readers
This Christmas, I’m inviting you to be part of it.
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I → invite → it
Every day, the Toronto Star asks its readers to care about this city: to celebrate what makes it extraordinary, understand its challenges and imagine what it can become.
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it → ask → challenges
Once a year, through the magic of the Santa Claus Fund, we invite our readers to turn that concern into action.
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we → invite → action
This Christmas marks 120 years of doing exactly that.
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Christmas → mark → that
In 1906, Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson began a tradition that has grown alongside Toronto itself.
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that → begin → Toronto
The idea was simple then, and it remains simple today: no child should feel forgotten at Christmas.
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child → remain → Christmas
But that idea has endured, only because people have been willing to act on it.
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people → endure → it
Last year, the generosity of our readers and staff members helped raise more than $1.5 million and provide 50,000 gift boxes to financially vulnerable children across the Greater Toronto Area.
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generosity → help → Area
That’s 50,000 children reminded that their community cares and has not forgotten them.
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community → ’ → them
And that care has never been more urgently needed.
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care → need → ?
A report released this year by Social Planning Toronto found an astounding 25.7 per cent of children in Toronto were living in poverty in 2023, the last year data was available.
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data → release → 2023
Given all of the issues today, one can only imagine it has gotten worse.
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it → give → issues
They describe the pressures facing families across our city: parents stretching each paycheque, juggling necessities and doing everything they can to give their children a fair start to their life.
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they → describe → life
The Santa Claus Fund cannot solve childhood poverty.
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Fund → solve → poverty
Nor can one gift box erase the difficulties a family faces.
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family → erase → difficulties
What it can do is offer something meaningful at a time when it matters: warm clothing, a book, a toy, practical essentials and, above all, the feeling that someone is thinking and cares about you.
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someone → offer → you
That is why I am so proud that the Star continues to champion this program.
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Star → continue → program
A newspaper should not only help people understand their community; it should also help bring that community together.
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it → help → community
And if our readers are the driving force behind the fund, our volunteers are its heartbeat.
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volunteers → drive → fund
Each year, more than 1,500 remarkable volunteers help make the Santa Claus Fund possible, contributing an estimated 10,500 hours of their time.
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Fund → help → time
We work with more than 100 social service agencies across the GTA.
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We → work → GTA
Forty-two volunteer depot co-ordinators run 27 depot locations and help organize roughly 1,400 delivery routes.
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ordinators → run → routes
In 2025, more than 112 community groups signed up to deliver boxes, including Scout troops, the Richmond Hill Jaguars hockey team, St. Vincent de Paul, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, Rotary Clubs and Knights of Columbus members.
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groups → sign → Columbus
People from every corner of our community find a way to take part.
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People → find → part
What is especially moving is how volunteering becomes a family tradition.
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volunteering → become → ?
More than 80 per cent of our volunteers return year after year.
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cent → return → year
Some first joined as children, delivering boxes with their parents, and later came back as adults with families of their own.
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Some → join → own
We have volunteers in their 80s and infants who come along for deliveries with their families.
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who → have → families
Some volunteers once received Santa Claus Fund boxes themselves and return because they want another child to experience that same sense of care that they did.
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they → receive → that
Few examples capture that spirit better than Darlene Kelley, who has been helping for 57 years, and Mario and Vito Marchese, who have been involved for 54 years.
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who → capture → years
All three began by helping with deliveries as children.
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three → begin → children
More than a half-century later, they are still showing up.
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they → show → century
That kind of commitment is what turns a charity program into a civic tradition.
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what → turn → tradition
Volunteers and community partners turn generosity into action.
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Volunteers → turn → action
They give their time, their vehicles, their weekends and their energy so that a promise made to a child becomes a box arriving at the door.
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promise → give → door
This year, I want to recognize those volunteers and ask more Torontonians to join them.
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I → want → them
If you can donate, please do.
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you → donate → ?
Whether your contribution is large or small, you become part of something much bigger.
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you → become → something
But I also hope you will consider giving your time.
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you → hope → time
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
