Christmas will be a little easier this year for 10 Merritt families thanks to some elves in the community.

The Merritt Christmas Elves is a grassroots group founded by Merrittonian Susan Riddle that’s raising money and wrapping gifts for local families to make their Christmases a little bit merrier.

The families are nominated by a friend or family member and protecting their anonymity is paramount, Riddle said.

To help spread the word, she began a Facebook page and posts profiles of the families and their interests.

The Merritt Christmas Elves Facebook page is up to 299 members.

Riddle said her original idea was to provide kids in the community with bicycles.

“I started thinking about all the little ones who didn’t have Christmas,” she said. “It started out with this idea that people have things in their homes and toys that the little ones aren’t using anymore.”

With help from Breathe Bikes and Skull Gallery, the bikes were fixed up and airbrushed, but the spirit of giving had caught on.

Canadian Tire donated four brand new bikes, and an anonymous donor custom-made bunk beds for dolls for a set of twins in one of the families.

Some people even purchased an Xbox for a family.

“I was just blown away by the generosity of people,” Riddle said.

Soon, Riddle and her fellow volunteers were inundated with donations, and started another Facebook page to auction off some of the items which didn’t fit with the families they were helping.

Proceeds from those auctions will help the group buy wrapping paper and other items for the families.

“There’s a lot of times people want to help, but they don’t have the funds either, so they’ve gone through their kids’ stuff and even some of their own things and donated them,” she said.

Riddle has also solicited donations from local businesses for a mystery box, which she’s offering in a raffle.

The box is valued at $905 and only Riddle knows what’s inside.

Tickets for the mystery box will be available at a fundraiser concert for the Merritt Christmas Elves on Friday, which features a slew of local bands who have caught the spirit of giving.

Riddle said she was “overjoyed” when Merrittonian Debbie Dowd approached her with the idea for the concert about two weeks ago. She said that will be the group’s biggest fundraiser to date, and will help the Elves to purchase more gifts and gift cards for the families they’re helping.

Dowd, whose husband fronts the Doug James Band, said the concert is an opportunity for local musicians to give back to a community that supports their music.

Joining the Doug James Band on the bill for Fridays show are Coquihalla Coyotes, Six More Strings, Dawn Chypyha, the Snee family, John Flottvik and Quade Lindgren.

For her part, Dowd said she chose the Elves as a beneficiary because it’s an independent group and captures a different group of people than other programs might.

“The people Susan is helping through the Merritt Christmas Elves are the people who fall between the cracks,” she said. “These are the working poor people. Mom and dad both have minimum wage jobs, have two kids and they’re paying $900 a month in rent and they just want Christmas for their kids but they can’t afford it,” she said by way of example. “And I used to be one of those, so this is how I got into it.”

Riddle said the first year of the Merritt Christmas Elves has gone way beyond her expectations.

“I just want to thank the community for believing in my dream,” she said. “Just for jumping in. It’s just been amazing.”

It’s also a personal venture for Riddle, who said she was inspired to do something for Christmas in memory of her brother Jimmy and sister Candy, who loved Christmas.

“He loved tools but he wasn’t very good with them,” she said with a laugh. “I used to humour him and every chance I got, I bought him some kind of a tool and he’d get so excited, so I bought a set of tools for the dad of one of the families in memory of my brother.”

Riddle said the idea of her group is to help people who may not seek help for themselves, but for whom things get pretty tight around the holidays.

“Our hope is, when they do get on their feet, they’ll kind of pay it forward down the road,” Riddle said.

Tickets for the concert are $10 and are available in advance from Carrie Ware and Company at 1964 Quilchena Ave. or by calling 250-280-1595 or 250-378-7514.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 12 at the Culture Club on Granite Avenue. The music gets underway at 7 p.m.