History

Once upon a time, there was… a little elf.

The idea of the Little Elves was born in the fall of 1991 following the death of Sylvain’s brother.

Even with the constant and strong support of his family, Alain’s fight against AIDS had been difficult. Sylvain figured that it must be even worse for those who do not have the luck or the opportunity of being surrounded by their family and friends.

What to do then - if only a small gesture – to help?

Our single initial elf answered this question with a gesture from the heart. On Christmas Eve 1991, he bought and distributed gifts to residents of two homes for people living with AIDS in Montreal.

The initiative seemed to please the residents very much and our elf was also satisfied. He repeated the experience for the six following years without breathing a word to anyone.

In 1997, he let his sister in on his secret. She thought he should spread his idea around and suggested asking the participation of his group of friends. With the help of Guylaine and Antoine, he recruited some more elves. Since then the numbers of volunteers, of people giving money, of people receiving gifts and the geographic area covered has continuously increased.

In November 2002, Sylvain decided to formalize the elves' action and to ensure their future by constituting a not-for-profit organization : The Little Elves Foundation was "officially" born.

Shortly after, the Foundation received a charitable status from fiscal authorities allowing it to issue receipts for income tax purposes.