Hoa Vo still has the magnetic checkerboard she received for Christmas nearly 30 years ago.
It’s no longer functional — some of its pieces have gone missing over the years. She keeps it at her parents’ house as a treasured memento of the two Christmases, around Grades 2 and 3, when volunteerscame to her house with gift boxes for her and her twobrothers. At the time, she had no idea where the gifts came from or who the volunteers were.
“I just remember the joy,” she told the Star as she reflected on that first year.
Now, three decades later, Vo, 35, hopes to bring the same festive cheerto otherfinancially vulnerable kidsby donating to the same charity that funded the gifts she received as a child.
“Whatever joy that I can give, I will.”
Getting a Santa Claus Fund gift box is one of Vo’s earliest Christmas memories — even if it wasn’t until years later that she learned where it had come from.
Born in Hong Kong to Vietnamese refugees who fled their home country,’ Vo’s mother was actually pregnant with her when she left Vietnam. In 1991, when Vo was two years old, she and her family arrived in Toronto.
After arriving in Canada, Vo recalled her family “weren’t well to do,” so they didn’t really celebrate Christmas.
Then, about five to six years after their arrival, Vo’s family, along with her cousins’ families who had also immigrated to Canada, somehow ended up on the Star’s list to receive Santa Claus Fund gift boxes.
Vo remembers feeling like she was experiencing a significant part of Canadian culture when the boxes were delivered.
“I was like, ‘Oh, we get a present! This is what Christmas feels like.’”
Along with the checkerboard that she’s kept with her since, the box had a hat, gloves, a book and candy, and while the hat and mittens came in handy during the winter, Vo said she was most excited about the candy.
Her mom and dad, however, were less so.
“My parents were like, ‘These are not things that are necessities,’” she said, laughing as she recalled their bemused reaction to the sweets.
Vo as a child, year unknown. She received Santa Claus Fund boxes two years in a row around Grades 2 and 3.
Hoa Vo/SuppliedAlong with the excitement, the gift boxes came witha sense of mystery. Vo didn’t know who or where the boxes came from.
But during the height of the pandemic in 2020, while texting in her family group chat, the question resurfaced: Who had made this generous donation all those years ago?
“I don’t know how it got brought up into the conversation, but we were trying to figure it out because, again, it made a huge impression on us.”
Vo decided to do some digging, and the 30-year-old mystery didn’t take long to solve, in part at least.
Within a day of searching online, Vo narrowed it down to the Star’s Santa Claus Fund based on the charity’s description and a photo of the gift boxes.
Some questions, however, remain unanswered. Vo still doesn’t know how she and her family ended up on the list or how volunteers got her family’s address.
Nevertheless, Vo has made it an annual tradition to give back to the Santa Claus Fund every year, using money from her holiday bonus. Some of her family members have also started to do the same.
While Christmas in the Vo household remains a low-key affair, with the family simply gathering for a meal each year, the memory of the gift boxes is still talked about to this day.
“It just made such an impact on us.”
The pc28Star Santa Claus Fund
GOAL:$1.5 million
TO DATE: $761,595
With your gift, the Santa Claus Fund can help provide holiday gift boxes that inspire hope and joy to 50,000 financially vulnerable kids.
How to donate:
Online:
To donate by Visa, Mastercard or Amex, scan this QR code or use our secure form at
By cheque:
Mail to The pc28Star Santa Claus Fund, 8 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
By phone:Call 647-250-8282
Tax receipts will be issued.
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