Brown Santa: Gift Wrapping

This is a seasonal tradition for our group and one of my favorite volunteer opps! Brown Santa is run by the Travis County Sheriff's Dept and delivers gifts to ~2,700 families (10k children) each year.

Impact: The program runs on volunteers for gift wrapping, sorting, and packing. Each child receives 2 new wrapped toys, a puzzle, 2-3 books, and a stuffed animal. Each family receives a family gift like a board game, box of food, and gift card for food. Many of these families are facing hardship due to disasters, displacement, or foster care situations. It’s called “Brown Santa” after the brown uniforms the deputies wear.

What we’ll do: Each table will get a family sheet with kids’ ages, pick out appropriate toys, and wrap the gifts. If the floor is busy with other needs, we may jump to warehouse tasks like toy or book sorting.

What to bring: We're all encouraged to bring an unwrapped gift to donate when volunteering + any gift wrapping or bows you'd like to use to wrap the presents. You can also check out the current list of what they need here: https://www.brownsanta.org/donate/

Logistics: The warehouse location changes every year, and this year it's out on the East Side. They will have a quick orientation at the start of the shift, so please be on time.

Afterwards: Everyone is welcome to continue to socialize over food/drinks somewhere nearby (one option: Central Machine Works)