Volunteer

Have fun and do great things!

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Chatham Goodfellows! Every year, we are thrilled with the wonderful people who step forward to help us organize toys and food, pack hampers, do deliveries and so much more. If you belong to a baseball team, book club, scout group, yoga group, etc., we encourage you to come forward as a group and have fun doing great work within our community. We welcome back all our volunteers from past years and hope more people will sign up to help us with this important community service. High school students requiring volunteer hours are more than welcome to join us and one of the Chatham Goodfellows Board members will be happy to sign your volunteer form.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Chatham Goodfellows! Please read the following information about the many opportunities to volunteer with the Chatham Goodfellows in 2026:

Chatham Goodfellows Registration for Food and/or Toy Hampers

Online Registration – Sunday November 1st to Friday December 4th
Phone Registration – Monday November 9th to Friday December 4th from 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday – (519) 354-1146.

Please note that first time registrants will need to register by Phone only.

Hearts and Toys – Toy Drive sponsored by CKXS

November 21st, 2026 at the Chatham Walmart location – 10am – 2pm
Drop your toy donation in the collection bins – Donations wanted!

Movie Day at the Chatham Capitol Theatre sponsored by Unifor Local 127

November 22nd, 2026 – Doors open at 12 noon with movie starting at 1pm at the Capitol Theatre – National Lampoon Christmas Vacation.

Admission by donation. There will be a canned or box food collection bin if you’d like to donate.

Warm up CK sponsored by CKSY

Tuesday November 24th, 2026 – 7am – 11am at the CKSY radio station on Keil Dr.

Collection drive-thru for childrens’ (newborn to 12 yrs old) hats, mittens and scarves, although any donation is welcomed as always. – Donations wanted!

PORCHLIGHT CAMPAIGN NIGHT

Monday November 30th, 2026 – various neighborhood locations.

Volunteers will work with a team leader and have a designated route to collect toys, food and monetary donations for individual households that leave their porchlight on. Your team will gather at a specified area and time where the team leader will distribute aprons, provide routes and instructions along with some safety tips. You’ll take your route and begin walking, going to the residents with porch lights on, for approx. an hour or two at most. Once your route is complete, you’ll provide the apron back to your team leader at the predefined gathering location. Please select this option from the list below if you are interested in volunteering.

If you require more information on this event please email PorchlightInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

SANTA’S DAY OFF – Toy Drive

Friday December 4th & Saturday December 5th, 2026 at the Great Canadian Superstore 10am-2pm Volunteers collecting toys and food.

STREET SALES CAMPAIGN

Friday December 11th, 2026 and Saturday December 12th, 2026 – various 2 hour shift times – various locations

The Street Sales Campaign organizes volunteers to stand at the entrance of local businesses with a distinct red Chatham Goodfellows apron and ask patrons of the business if they would like to support the Chatham Goodfellows campaign. If they would like to help, they have an option of providing cash or a bank/credit card tap using a “tip tap” machine in predefined selectable increments. There’s also an option for e-transfers, for which the email address is printed within the newspaper, and the individual can make at a later time. In return for a donation, you can offer the individual a Chatham Goodfellows annual newspaper.

If you have time available on December 11th or 12th and would be willing to help, please take a look at the link and consider signing up. Spaces where there is still need for volunteers are in YELLOW – Sign up for Street Sales here!

If you require further information on this event, please email StreetSalesInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

TOY PACKING EVENT

Monday December 7th through Wednesday December 9th, 2026 – at the former Peavey Mart (TSC Store)(787 St. Clair Street, Chatham Ontario)
The Chatham Goodfellows Toy Committee will be holding their Annual Toy Packing event over a 4- night span. This event consists of individuals or groups from the community volunteering on one of the designated nights to put toy bags together. Each person will line up and receive a bag with a male or female designation with an assigned age. The person will then move between the different station’s setup with the age ranges and gender and select one or two items to put inside the bag. There will be multiple stations (ie: toys, hats/mitts, books, etc.) to go through and you’ll be selecting the appropriate items. Once all stations have been completed, the bag will be verified to ensure that all stations and age-appropriate items have been selected. Once the bag has been verified, bring the bag to the next station where the bag will be packed among other age and gender like bags. If you have time, you can line back up at the end of the line to go through the stations again. This is a very popular event among children in which they get to select toys from a table full of toys and know they’ll make a difference in another child’s life who may not have had this opportunity without their help. This is a great opportunity for parents/coaches/leaders of youth teams/groups to come together to instill the power of giving to a young mind.

This is a very easy event and there will be individuals at each station to help with directions if required. If interested in volunteering for this event, please select the option and complete QUESTION #3 within the registration form.

If you require further information on this event, please email ToyPackingAndDeliveryInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

TOY DELIVERY EVENT

Dec 16th, 2026 – starts at 5:00pm – at the former Peavey Mart (TSC Store)
This will involve meeting at the former Peavey Mart (TSC Store) located at (787 St. Clair Street, Chatham Ontario) and lining up in your vehicle and driving up to the designated doors where a few toy bags will be placed in your vehicle. Address cards that correspond to the toy bags will be provided. This will require a valid driver’s license, a vehicle and ideally another individual to help navigate and drop off the toys. Whether you have a half-hour or 3 hours, anytime is a big help. If interested in volunteering for this event, please select this event option below.

If you require further information on this event, please email ToyPackingAndDeliveryInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

FOOD PACKING EVENT

Thursday December 17th, 2026 – 8am-noon – Spirit and Life Center

The location of this event is the Spirit and Life Centre located at 184 Wellington St W, Chatham, ON N7M 1J6, Canada. This event will involve individuals set up in an assembly line formation on both sides of a conveyor belt. Two separate assembly lines will be created. Everyone on the assembly line will have a specific task of placing a specific food item into a food box that will travel down the line. We’ll need individuals who will stack additional cases/boxes of items behind the assembly line as well as individuals who will be breaking/cutting boxes for recycling. Full instructions will be provided the morning of the event. This event will start at 8am and last approx. 4 hours until the approx. or until the 1600 food boxes are completed. Individuals may want to bring gardening gloves for a better grip as well as have a couple of layers of clothing since outdoor doors will be opening and closing within the hall. If interested in volunteering for this event, please select this event option below.

If you require further information on this event, please email FoodPackingAndDeliveryInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

FOOD DELIVERY EVENT

Thursday December 17th, 2026 – starting at noon – Spirit and Life Center

The location of this event is the Spirit and Life Centre located at 184 Wellington St W, Chatham, ON N7M 1J6, Canada. This event will involve individuals walking into the Spirit and Life Centre and filling in a brief form prior to receiving their deliveries. Once filled in, the address cards will be provided, and you’ll drive up to the doors and someone will load the food hampers into your vehicle. The address cards will correspond with the boxes provided. This event will require a valid driver’s license, a vehicle and ideally another individual to help navigate and drop off the food hampers. Whether you have a half hour or 3 hours, anytime is a big help. If interested in volunteering for this event, please select this event option below.

If you require further information on this event, please email FoodPackingAndDeliveryInfo@chathamgoodfellows.ca

We can’t do this without you. Thank you for volunteering!

The Chatham Goodfellows and the Chatham community are committed to ensuring that there is “No Child Without a Christmas”! Any other inquiries can be directed to GeneralInquiries@chathamgoodfellows.ca.