Even Santa couldn’t have seen this one coming.

The guy in the big red suit exists to make sure every child gets a pleasant surprise on Christmas morning, and in Caledon he also works to help needy families through Caledon Community Services’ (CCS) Santa Fund.

This year though, that ubiquitous giving that jolly old St. Nick enjoys is at risk of falling short in Caledon. And that’s because the fundraising being done by the volunteers and staff of CCS is $19,000 behind their goal.

“Right now we’re going over our budget,” said Fiona Ott, manager of fundraising and development for CCS.  “We are struggling this year. We need to make targets as far as people shopping in our stores, and we have to make targets as far as fundraising. We’re not making them.”

Ott had the bad news that the CCS Santa Fund is, as of Monday, Jan. 4, $19,000 short of its $140,000 goal.

The Santa Fund, which has been in existence for more than 20 years, is a key financer of CCS’s crisis programs for the entire year. Everything from the Help with Heat program, to financial assistance the organization lends to families who can’t meet their bills, to food vouchers and the food bank.

“Our mission is helping people help themselves,” explained Ott. “When a family comes in, maybe they need help feeding their children, maybe they need help finding one of their members a job, we try to provide a full range of services. Without this financing, we’re afraid to think of what services we would have to cut.”

Ott explained that crisis support at CCS is handled through crisis support workers.

Each person, or family, who accesses CCS’s crisis services is assigned a worker to give a personal touch to the experience. The worker will help the needy through the process, explain the services available to them, and help them on their way to a happy ending.

“If this year you need a job,” said Ott. “Our goal is simply that next year, you won’t need a job.”

Without the funding the organization counts on from its Santa Fund, times are tough at CCS, and drastic results are already starting to show.

The organization has had to reduce one of its crisis support workers to part-time hours. They don’t want to reduce the services available, but according to Ott, if they don’t reach their fundraising goals, there may be no other choice.

“There’s been government cutbacks this year as well, which haven’t helped,” said Ott. “We’ve had to reduce the hours of our one staff members, and we just don’t want to reduce anymore. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to recover the hours we had to cut from that one councillor.”

According to Ott, getting to the point of having to reduce food vouchers, something the organization averages about $70,000 worth of during each year, is the point they do not want to reach.

But during the tough economic times of the past year, they are seeing more and more demand for their services. And the over 300 volunteers that “make CCS possible,” she said, want to see the Santa Fund and other services as a shining light in the GTA.

“We know that everyone in every part of this city is hurting a little bit, or a lot this year,” said Ott. “But we want to be a beacon for everyone who needs our help. We want to make sure that Caledon is seen as one of those communities where the neighbours look after each other.”

Good news for the organization is that Husky Injection Molding Systems of Bolton has agreed to match donations up to $25,000.

“We don’t want to give the impression that this community doesn’t do enough,” said Ott. “We always see a lot of generosity in Caledon. But this year, we need just a little bit more.”

The Santa Fund is open from Dec. 1 until Jan. 15.

Donations can be made to the CCS Santa Fund through their Chez Thrift and Re-Use stores, at donation drop boxes located at the Bolton branch of the public library, Let’s Decorate in Palgrave and Glen Eagle golf course.

Interested donors are also encouraged to visit the CCS home office at 18 King Street if they need a tax receipt for their donation.

“Not all of our locations will be equipped to give you that receipt,” said Ott.

Or mail a donation to: Caledon Community Services, 18 King St. East, Caledon East, Ontario, L7E 1E8.