ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- The holiday season is officially here and volunteers kicked off the first of 12 nights of packing season for the Arctic League.  

Members of the Elmira Kiwanis Club packed up presents that will be distributed to kids on Christmas Eve Day. The entire process is run by volunteers in the community that want to spread holiday cheer in Chemung County. 

“This is all volunteer-based,” said Jeff Streeter. “We have several organizations in here to help, tonight. We have an assembly line that has been working tried and true for decades...many, many decades.”  

Streeter is the 2022 Arctic League Board President. Streeter said the Arctic League has been giving gifts to children in Chemung County for nearly 110 years. During tonight's first night of packing, people put together gifts in an assembly line. 

“We have boys on one side, we have girls on the other, and then...they're separated by ages,” he said. “We send tote baskets, starting at the very beginning of the line, with books, and we send that right down the line...when they reach the end of the line, they get filled into gift bags.” 

With donations, the Arctic League purchases gifts for the packing event. This year, Streeter said, the organization exceeded their fund-raising goal. 

“Our fund-raising goal was $130,000 and we reached more than half of that during our broadcast, which was almost two weeks ago, and are probably up over $180,000, right now,” he said.  

The remaining packing nights are from December 8th to the 22nd. Deliveries of these packages will take place on Christmas Eve Day.