Operation ELF is all about wishes, dreams, and hope. In 2000 a small group of volunteers gathered in a church hall with the intention to fulfill the holiday wishes of children in shelters. Thus was born Operation ELF! ELF stands for Everybody Loves Family.
People who signed up on our website at OperationELF.org became sponsors. Each sponsor received the age, sizes, favorite color, etc. and of course, the child’s holiday wish. Sponsors shopped for each child, keeping within the $40-60 range. Then they either mailed their wish list gift or dropped it off to local Operation ELF volunteers.
Volunteers checked each gift and bagged them for each child by December 9. On December 10, lots of volunteers assembled at the Sawyer School in Bolton, MA for Packing Day. The Operation ELF Core Team set up the room to receive gifts for 1,362 children. 
More volunteers started to arrive. We had a big circle-up meeting to get excited and inspired for the sake of the children we were serving . . . and exchanged last-minute information too. 
The gifts started arriving in cars and trucks from all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Volunteers made sure that every bag is complete and lined them up by the charitable agency that works with each child. 
Our “Guardian Spirit” team was ready with an inventory of extra toys, books, and clothes to make sure every child’s wish is fulfilled. 
When all the bags were ready, we “checked them twice” to make sure that no child had been forgotten.
Just imagine the delight on the faces of the hundreds of children receiving these gifts! 
Now it’s time to load all the gifts onto the trucks. A big line of volunteers pass the bags from hand to hand until they arrive onto the truck. 
This truck is getting ready to go to Boston … 
… and be delivered to Boston Bridges to Excellence After School Program. 