Christmas Caravan

Markland Wood, Annual Christmas Caravan & Food Drive

          

On the second last or last Sunday December the residents of Markland Wood will continue their tradition of collecting non-perishable food items and clothing for distribution to several charities in Toronto.

Our Caravan will visit every home in Markland Wood. Usually, we shared over 17,000 pounds of food, a truckload of clothes and even money donations for many charities.

The Caravan usually consists of a Police sound vehicle, a bright red Fire Truck, a transport truck, to sort and pack the food, and dozens of cheery elves and, of course, Santa!

The parade starts at the Markland Wood Plaza at 9:00 a.m., where we greet new "Caravaners " and all the "old regulars ". We'll be visiting the north side of Bloor Street in the morning, and, after a break for lunch, we'll continue on the south side of Bloor Street. Our elves will be winding up and down every street, stopping at each home to pick up your bags of groceries and bringing them to the curbside for loading on the truck. 

Please don't disappoint our little elves. The more you contribute, the happier they'll be! We'll return to the plaza, tired but excited, around 3:30 p.m. Finally, we'll unload the many boxes of already sorted food into my garage for the charities to pick up on Monday morning. This all sounds pretty exciting doesn't it ...And it is. Just ask your neighbours. 

You can't imagine the joy we all feel when all is done at about 4:30 PM.  High school students receive their signed volunteer slips. We then count the food boxes and discuss the day's happy event.

We do this every year, because of the great need to help. What other group do you know that contributes like this and for as long as we have? 2017 marked the 50 anniversary of the Christmas Caravan.

In order to view the photographs and video image galleries you must be a registered user and logged in.  Please login using the "Login" menu above.