About Us

Elf Louise with Santa

The Elf Louise Christmas Project is dedicated to providing a little bit of joy to Bexar County’s disadvantaged children. Get into the spirit of Christmas! Join Elf Louise volunteers in spreading joy throughout San Antonio! The current-day Elf Louise Christmas Project has evolved into a community-based 100% volunteer organization. The Project is run by a Board of Directors and Core Volunteers. These individuals work year-round to ensure the project will continue into the future indefinitely. We have over 4,500 volunteers who wrap gifts and deliver toys during the Christmas season.

The project began in 1969 when our founder, Louise Locker, was a student at Trinity University in San Antonio. She found that for many San Antonio families, Christmas just did not exist. Louise began to look for a way to provide a few Christmas presents to some of these children. That first year, with the help of a friend, she collected gifts for children in 13 families. In 2022, the organization helped 5,345 families with 18,277 children!

The Elf Louise Christmas Project is a 501 (C)(3) Non-profit organization staffed by all volunteers and funded by donation. 98 cents of each dollar donated goes directly to the purchase and delivery of the toys.

The Elf Louise Christmas Project relies on the help of donations from grassroots San Antonio, and corporations who want to share their blessings at Christmas. People also donate toys, but since we need over 60,000 gifts, we have to purchase many of them. Our current budget is over $316,000. These donations ARE 100% deductible on your taxes!!!