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CALIFORNIA CENTRAL
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Bobby Knudsen's 8th Annual
Memorial Toy Run, Sunday December 14, 2008
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT
FROM:
CREDIT CARD DONATIONS
ARE ALSO ACCEPTED: PLEASE
If you can volunteer your time and talents to support this fantastic program in
any of the Central California cities, we welcome your support. Please call our
Managing Director at:
Mikey
Terrones Join us for our 2nd annual holiday toy drive in memory of “MIKEY”. We will be collecting toys to distribute to needy children during the holiday season. You may bring unwrapped toys in their original packaging to a special reception being held at:
Location:
2008 Conception Drive (Briar Creek Homes) Lompoc
But JESUS
called the children to him and said,
*All toys will go to
the Lompoc chapter of Toys for Tots and the Lompoc Foursquare Church for
distribution to the children of our communities who would otherwise be without
this holiday season. Thank you for your compassion and giving hearts, Merry
Christmas, the
Terrones’
& Family. Tots get toys in time for Christmas By Amanda Brooks/Staff Writer A large, vacant store in the West Ocean Avenue Vons shopping center was transformed Saturday into the Toys for Tots distribution center. Outside, in the bright, crisp morning, families stood in line, waiting their turn to enter. Inside, though it was rather unfestive in decor, teams of volunteers in Santa hats helped guide the families from sign-in through collection of toys for their children - then they got their photos taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. “It's a big deal. Without that, I don't know what I'd do,” said Koreena Parker, who was there to pick up toys for her children. Maria Lozano, the mother of four girls, said that signing up for the free gifts was her 6-year-old's idea. Valerie and her sisters wanted to have toys for Christmas, and Lozano said that without Toys for Tots, Christmas “would have been sad.” Alicia Gomez, who learned about the program from her mother, said she was grateful because without it, “There would be no toys for your kids. They help us.” One side of the room was a sort of shopping center, where boxes of gifts had been sorted into age groups. Volunteers, with ticket numbers indicating children's genders and ages, filled bags with appropriate toys. Other volunteers took the bags and organized them on the other side of the store in neat rows by ticket number, and still other volunteers searched for and retrieved the bags when the family arrived. This bustle of activity, combined with the joyful anticipation of the children and the presence of Santa Claus, gave the scene a warm, cheerful glow that belied the starkness of the white walls and black floor. Though every year co-ordinators Pat Nuernberg and Brenda Herrera worry about having enough toys, Nuernberg said that this year was particularly hard. “The overall economics affects the program,” Nuernberg said. “With people losing homes and the price of gas, this year it was such a worry. Right down to the wire.” This year, Toys for Tots had nearly 600 families preregistered for the program. Other families were allowed to register late Saturday. Although the total registration numbers were unavailable late Saturday, Nuernberg said, “We didn't have to turn a child away.” The thing that seemed to amaze everyone was not only the financial generosity of the community, but also the community's generosity of time. “We couldn't do this without volunteers,” Nuernberg said. And volunteers they had. From the people who volunteered to anonymously give gifts to children from whom they would never hear a thank you to the small army of volunteers helping run Saturday's proceedings. A troop of boy scouts, 32 students from Lompoc High School's MEChA club and five from an Allan Hancock College Speech 102 class were among the day's volunteers. AHC student Marjorie McBride said they chose to participate in Toys for Tots because of the immediate impact it has: “Doing this, we get to see the kids' faces.” Toys for Tots in Lompoc is organized with the help of the Dorothy Jackson Family Resource Center (DJFRC). Originally under the name Christmas Cheer, it was Pat Nuernberg and her husband Hal, an ex-marine, whose involvement with the Marine Corps League brought Toys for Tots to Lompoc with the help of Dorothy Jackson. It is via the DJFRC that families learn about and register for the Toys for Tots program. Jackson's daughter-in-law, Linda Jackson, stays involved in the Toys for Tots program because she feels it is a good legacy. Herrera summed up the day, “It was because of lots of loving hearts that we pulled it together.” Amanda Brooks can be reached at 737-1056 or at abrooks@lompocrecord.com. December 16, 2007
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