WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - On Saturday, December 18^th, the Yolo County Children’s Alliance (YCCA) held their 15^th annual free toy distribution. Each year it gets bigger and better. Former YCCA Executive Director, Katie Villegas began this event to help out the families that needed some Santa help. Well, Katie is retired but her predecessor, Jeneba Lahai, is doing an outstanding job!

It is reported that cars started lining up at 4 am for the 10 am event. YCCA has this stuff down though. Set up in the former Alyce Norman Elementary school (where YCCA’s office is), cars drove through and gathered the items that were included that day.

As cars drove in, the first stop was a table of Hostess goodies. Each car got a case of yummy sweetness. Next, was a table that held diapers for those that could use them. That’s right, free diapers! Next came a table of little stocking stuffer sacks. The next stop was the star of the show… Santa!

Mayor Pro-tem, Quirina Orozco, was the acting Santa’s Helper of the day. She had a blast singing to the kids and adults that came through. Candy canes were given out and pictures were taken. It was a very happy section of the event. As the participants continued on, they came to the next stop, which was the Yolo County Food Bank.

The Yolo County Food Bank decided that they would switch it up this time and instead of handing out bags of food, they handed out bags and bags of kid-sized cooking utensils! This included dish towels for those kids that are still trying to convince Santa to put them on the nice list.

Next stop was Travis Credit Union. The good people from Travis handed out piggy banks, coloring books and crayons. Next came the toys. Hundreds and hundreds of toys! As you pull up, you would tell the volunteer how many children you have and their ages. They would return with a bag of toys for each child.

Next and final stop was the United Way tent. You may remember from previous articles that our newest city councilmember, Dawnte Early-West is now the President and CEO of United Way. Why is that significant? Because… due to the amazing generosity of one anonymous donor, the United Way gave $100 to the first 400 cars. That’s right, I said 400! That’s $40,000 CASH that was given out.

I don’t know about any of you, but I find that pretty amazing. And on behalf of West Sacramento families, to the anonymous donor…. Thank You very much for helping them with that money! For those families that didn’t have access to a car, they were not forgotten or excluded. Personal shoppers were available for those who walked up.

It was a pretty terrific day. Not only for those kids that received the gifts, or because the families got cash (not that both of those things weren’t a major part of the help). It was a terrific day because YCCA saved over 400 families from going through the heartache of seeing sadness and having to explain to their kids that they are good kids, and Santa does love them too.

Now, when the neighbor kids are outside, playing with their new toys on Christmas day, these kids can be out there too, doing the same. Thank You, YCCA and everyone involved, from the West Sac community… and Merry Christmas!