Demand jumps for P.E.I. toy drive honouring Hunter River grandmother

You know how Santa Claus delivers presents with the help of elves and his magic reindeer?

Well, have you heard about Louise Weeks who did something similar for decades in Hunter River, P.E.I.? She had no magic reindeer though — or elves for that matter.

But she wanted to be absolutely, positively, without an ounce of doubt certain that every child in the community had a gift to open on Christmas morning. So she took matters into her own hands, dressing up as Santa Claus and delivering presents to certain kids. 

"It wasn't like something she had to do. She just loved doing it," her grandson Tayler Weeks told CBC Island Morning host Mitch Cormier. 

"And it's funny now looking back, we didn't realize it was Grammy dressed up as a kid."

Louise died in March 2022. Looking for a way to honour his grandmother's legacy, Weeks remembered the Santa suit. 

"I was driving one day and then I thought of grammy's gifts and I thought, what a good name for a toy drive," he said. 

"So we started Grammy's Gifts."

The Island-wide toy drive launched for the first time last year. Dressed in the good ol' Santa suit they ended up helping 64 kids. 

"We tried to help as many as we could," said Weeks. 

"I couldn't really say no, so we definitely helped out more than we had planned on our list. And I assume it's going to happen again." 

Like other groups trying to help Islanders over the holidays, the demand is overwhelming. They plan to help 100 kids this year and within 24 hours of opening applications, more than 30 families had signed up. 

"It's tough seeing that many families that need the help," he said. 

The application is straightforward: What are the top three items on your kid's Christmas list and what are their interests? For the most part, he said the requests were rather reasonable with some asking for the bare minimum like socks or shampoo.