Empty Christmas stockings?
- U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots, Yuba-Sutter: New unwrapped toys valued at more than $10 each can be dropped off at 50 collection boxes in the Yuba-Sutter area. Donations can be left from 8 a.m. -5 p.m. weekdays at the Appeal-Democrat office, 1530 Ellis Lake Drive, Marysville. For a list of donation sites, visit www.kubaradio.com.
- CHiPs for Kids, Yuba-Sutter: New unwrapped gifts can be dropped off through Dec. 20 at the Yuba-Sutter California Highway Patrol office, 1619 Poole Blvd., Yuba City. Call 674-5141 for more information. Salvation Army Kettle campaign: Kettles are at several business in Yuba-Sutter, including the Yuba City and Marysville post offices and the Yuba Sutter Mall.
- Kelsey's Kids Toy Drive: Donations accepted through Dec. 13 at Dairy Queen, 1375 Live Oak Blvd., Yuba City; to benefit children in need at Cedar Lane Elementary School in Linda.
- Family Intervention Team Foundation Adopt-a-Family Christmas Program: Donations accepted through Monday at the Bank of Feather River, 855 Harter Parkway, Suite 100, Yuba City. Business hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday. Call 790-7554 for more information.
- Yuba City post office canned food drive: Customers can leave nonperishable food items in or near their mailbox Saturday in Yuba City to be picked up by mail carriers on their regular delivery route; or dropped off at the post office, 761 Plumas St.
Two holiday toy drives in Yuba-Sutter have stopped accepting applications to receive children's gifts, as a fall-off in donations threatens to leave some local stockings empty.
The Yuba-Sutter chapter of Toys for Tots announced Tuesday it is no longer taking requests for toys, hoping to ensure there will be enough supplies for the nonprofit groups that receive gifts from Toys for Tots to give out to Mid-Valley children.
Toy collections from the group's 50 or so baskets are running at only half the levels of December 2009, according to Bob Harlan, chairman of the Yuba-Sutter campaign.
"We didn't want to get ahead of our ability to serve organizations and individuals," said Harlan, the former owner of radio station KUBA-AM.
CHiPs for Kids, part of a group of local toy drives sponsored by the California Highway Patrol, also stopped taking gift requests in Yuba-Sutter. The program's local director, Officer Jeff Larson, said it has taken in fewer than 80 toys to serve a list of about 600 children from 175 families, although the CHP Yuba City branch did receive a cash donation Tuesday.
While Toys for Tots locally has served mainly as a collector of children's gifts for other groups, the number of toy requests from families has grown in recent years as Yuba-Sutter's swelling unemployment rate puts more families in need of aid — and unable to become donors themselves. "More people have found out through the grapevine about Toys for Tots, and they've told friends about it," Harlan said. "(Demand) has multiplied on its own through word of mouth."
Harlan added, the program could reopen to new applicants if a late rush of donations boosts the toy supply, saying past gift drives have garnered most of their toys from about Dec. 10 onward.
While Toys for Tots has garnered just under 500 presents, donations to CHiPs for Kids have met barely a tenth of the demand — just enough to fill two 3-by-6-foot tables at CHP's Yuba City office, according to Larson. Gifts for older children and preteens are in especially short supply, he said.
While pronouncing himself "optimistic" the CHP office eventually could fulfill all its requests, Larson admitted feeling pressure to avoid leaving any children empty-handed this Christmas.
"In years past, having delivered toys to them or handing in the toys myself, many times seeing their situations is heart-wrenching," he said. "A single mom struggling to make it, a parent deceased, a parent is out of work, somebody that's lost a house — I've heard all the stories and it certainly tugs your heartstrings."
Toys for Tots plans to start gift deliveries to nonprofits on Monday, and CHiPs for Kids is scheduled to bring toys to local families Dec. 20-22.
CONTACT reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com, and discuss this story at SutterLife.com.
