Operation ELF Bay Area

The mission of Operation ELF (Everybody Loves Families) is to bring joy and delight to families in need, so that they know people care.
‍
We locate low-income families and seniors and provide them with gifts, clothing, toys and staples during the holiday season, so that they feel appreciated and valued.

Each year, we serve families, seniors and youth shelters in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Operation ELF Bay Area is a grassroots group of community-minded people from San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Contra Costa counties who care about families in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and want them experience a happy holiday season filled with abundance and joy.
‍
Operation ELF Bay Area is part of Caring Heroes, an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) Charitable Non-Profit Organization. Our Tax ID number is 86-3206214.

Who do we help?Donate Now!

Up On Top

UP ON TOP provides after-school programs to children of low-income families in San Francisco, while preparing them to be successful in school, in community and in life.

Operation ELF provides the families in the program with much needed holiday care packages with gifts, clothing, household items and staples. Many of the children have never felt the delight of getting a holiday gift.

Daybreak / Star Vista

Daybreak is a housing and independent living skills training program for homeless youth 16 - 21. StarVista's Daybreak program provides homeless youth the skills and resources they need to live on their own.

Operation ELF works with Daybreak to provide the residents with a holiday that they often have never experienced. We bring them gift packages, prepare meals and simply let them know people care.

Bayview Senior Services

Bayview Senior Services operates programs in San Francisco that are open to all seniors and persons with disabilities, include three senior centers, nutritious meals, information/ referral, case management, adult day health care, money management, a senior ex-offender program and housing advocacy.

Operation ELF works to provide seniors with care packages, and provides much needed clothing for senior ex-offenders, who very often are homeless, and without a family to care for them.

Many Bay Area families go without

The Bay Area's high cost of living, combined with lack of opportunity means many families are barely getting by.
Parents often don't have money for holiday shopping. Sometimes it's a choice between food for meals or clothing, let alone a toy or school supplies!.
Every child deserves to know the joy of receiving!

‍

Operation ELF Bay Area has been serving families for 20 Years

We are not part of any large charity or institution. The whole operation got started when a neighbor wanted to help another neighbor. Originally we just gathered donated toys and shared them with families in need.

When we saw the joy this brought, and saw the scale of the need, we decided to help on a larger scale. Now we fund-raise year round and recruit many more volunteers to help.
‍
We are members of Mentor Discover Inspire in San Francisco and Team Torch in the Petaluma area, men's organizations dedicated to mentoring men to take on leadership roles in their lives. We also represent several other service-oriented groups of men and women volunteers. We have no religious or ideological affiliation.

We're still all volunteers, and we are always looking for more help!

The families we serve are in need!

We vet our supported families carefully to see that they qualify. We have worked with local charity and non-profit organizations to find families, such as Up On Top, Bayview Hunters Point Adult services and Glide Memorial Church, and Project Open Hand, to name a few.
To qualify for Operation ELF, families need to be in severe financial hardship and need basic supplies like clothing, food, toys and small appliances. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of needy households, and we can't serve all the families who are recommended.

You can contact us directly at ELFBayArea@gmail.com, or call 415-297-5767.