Santa's Angels aims to visit 500 homes this year with hugs and ham

Santa's Angels is getting ready for another year of delivering food and gifts to families across the Island.

Santa's Angels, which started in 2004, has raised funds year-round in order to help struggling and families to have a memorable Christmas Day.

Turkey to ham

The group traditionally distributed frozen turkeys to families but has recently made a change to ham.

The change came after the group received feedback that some families didn't have the time or the means to prepare the turkeys and so far the group hasn't received complaints.

"We tried it last year and there wasn't one negative response on it," said Kenny Zakem, president of Santa's Angels.

Plans to expand

Last year, the group made it to about 300 homes in Charlottetown but this year, the plan is to expand.

Santa's Angels will be getting a little help from volunteers in Summerside and hopes to distribute about 50 hams to families in the area.

In total the group hopes to get to about 500 homes between Charlottetown and Summerside.

"We're just hoping this thing grows and grows. And we can eventually get across the whole Island," Zakem said.

On top of home visits, the group also visits senior homes and hospitals in Charlottetown.

More demand, no problem

The group has ordered 1,000 hams in anticipation for this year's initiative.

Zakem encourages people to head to the Santa's Angels website and sign up as volunteers.

The group hopes to have a head count of volunteers by Dec. 10 to prepare and organize routes but ultimately, "We don't like to refuse anybody," he said.

He said visiting more people shouldn't be a problem.

Thinking back to the early days of the initiative, Zakem said, "We had three people on our routes and we probably did a couple dozen people and now we're doing about 300 or 400 people."

"We just keep adding Santas and adding routes," he said.

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With files by Laura Chapin