What really happens behind our charity Christmas deliveries?
People sometimes tell us our charity Christmas deliveries look disorganised. Fair enough, from the outside. But what they don’t see is a small team of estate agents from Greenaway Residential Estate Agents, all with their own full-time jobs, organising the trustees, recruiting and running up to 500 volunteers, raising close to £200,000, and doing it for a growing number of families each year, which means the systems behind it all have to keep changing to keep up.
Long before a single hamper or wish exists, we are contacting schools, social services, doctors’ surgeries as well as other charities across much of Surrey, Sussex and Kent, checking our data is correct and that the person we deal with hasn’t changed. Then working with them as they nominate families, from roughly mid-October through to early December.
Never give up
Every nominated family gets called and their details checked, then sent a letter from Santa so their children can make their wish. We don’t give up after one attempt. Families can be called up to five times, then written to, and if we still can’t reach them, we’ll go as far as knocking on their door.
From around mid-October, Santa on a daily basis starts receiving wish letters from excited children. Each one has to be processed: the present sourced, purchased, collected from the retailer, and checked in ready for Santa’s Workshop. This process is repeated up to 4,000 times.
Suppliers need our food order by the end of November, and although we ask nominators to have families submitted by the first week of December, we still get hundreds arriving well past that deadline. That’s not us being disorganised, it’s that the families reaching us are entirely down to when schools and other nominators submit them, and every late arrival still gets the same careful treatment: contacted, their wish found, and a retailer tracked down who still has it in stock.
For about a week, our elves gather at Santa’s Workshop, receiving wishes daily and wrapping and organising them for the final push.
The big set-up usually starts on the 23rd of December with around forty elves. Hampers are laid out, labelled and set out in delivery areas. Families can range from two people to sometimes twelve or more, each one tailored to size, with every ingredient for a wholesome two-course Christmas dinner. This runs from 8am to around 4pm. Then a second, trusted team of elves matches each wish to the right hamper, the part we consider the most important of all, since one mistake means a disappointed child. On a good day it’s done by 8pm. On a harder one, we’ve been working past 10pm.
That’s the part of charity Christmas deliveries people rarely see: the checking, the double checking and the late nights that make Christmas morning possible for a family who would otherwise go without.
The best part: Christmas Eve
At 6.30am on Christmas Eve, elves return to receive thousands of fresh chickens, distributed by hamper size, followed by a final check that everything’s there and correct. If all’s gone to plan, there’s a short rest before our VIPs and food sponsors arrive to see where their support went.
From 9.30am to 11.30am, our reindeer arrive to collect up to four deliveries each, loaded by the elves, and head out across much of Surrey, Sussex and Kent to excited families. For many of our reindeer, this is the moment that makes the whole year of charity Christmas deliveries worthwhile. The elves finish at 11.30am, do a final clear-up to leave everything as they found it, while the reindeer are still out delivering. A small team stay on the phones until 3pm in case anything needs sorting.
Christmas Eve morning is when our charity Christmas deliveries reach families. The fresh food arrives as close to Christmas Day as possible, and the presents can go straight under the tree. For a parent who has been quietly worrying about how to make Christmas happen, a knock on the door that morning can change the whole day.
The last thing we do every year is raise a glass on Sara’s Bench. Sara was our first advocate and one of our earliest trustees, and she passed away some years ago. Remembering her is part of how we close every Christmas.
Eat, sleep and then repeat
Then as the dust settles on Christmas and we usher in the New Year, a review of the whole event is conducted. Where issues surfaced, systems are changed or implemented, ready for the next Christmas. A year of events are planned and organised to help raise the money for our Christmas efforts and the help we provide families with throughout the year.
Every part of our charity Christmas deliveries is looked at in that review: how families were contacted, how quickly wishes were sourced, how the hampers were packed and how the delivery routes worked on the day. Feedback from nominators, elves and reindeer all goes into it. Small changes, like a clearer label on a hamper or a better way of grouping deliveries by area, can save hours when the pressure is on in December.
The aim never changes. Every child should wake up on Christmas morning to a present they asked for, and every family should sit down to a proper Christmas dinner.
Be part of our charity Christmas deliveries
That’s what actually happens behind the scenes. Our charity Christmas deliveries only happen because hundreds of local people give their time, money and goods. There are lots of ways to be part of it.
Volunteers can choose from three roles. Elves help in the months before Christmas, phoning families, processing wishes and sourcing and collecting presents, and many also help with the big set-up on the 23rd and 24th of December. Workshop volunteers wrap the presents at Santa’s Workshop. Reindeer deliver to families on Christmas Eve morning, and family members can ride along in the same sleigh, which makes it a lovely role for volunteers with young children. Whichever role you choose, you become part of our charity Christmas deliveries and see first hand the difference they make.
Here is how you can help:
- Volunteer as an elf at Santa’s Workshop or as a reindeer delivering on Christmas Eve. Find out more on our volunteer page.
- Sponsor a food item for the hampers, or become a Christmas sponsor.
- Donate towards this year’s appeal to help 1,200 families. Read more about Christmas 2026.
If you have any questions, email darren@greenawayfoundation.org.
