By Charly SHELTON

The annual toy and food drive delivers toys, food and holiday joy.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and Crescenta Valley Park Annual Toy and Food Drive is in full swing, collecting unwrapped toys and non-perishable food. For 28 years, the CV Sheriff’s Station has held the drive to help local families in need have a happy holiday by delivering gifts and a Christmas dinner.
“It is an annual event that we have and we usually get anywhere between 100 to 150 [recipient] families each year,” said Alex Covian, community relations deputy at the CV Sheriff’s Station. “We pass out bags of food and allow the children to come in and select some toys from those that we have available. These are toys that have been either been donated from organizations or individuals who live in the foothill community and the Crescenta Valley area, or purchased through funds that have been donated for that particular purpose by members of the community or organizations in the area.”
Gift-wrapped barrels that can be seen around town from late November to mid-December are donation barrels for the drive. Donations are requested of non-perishable food especially appropriate for holiday dinners, like stuffing and mashed potatoes, and new unwrapped toys for kids from the ages of infant up through teen.
“We get lots of different toys. Everything from die-cast cars, Hot Wheels, to sporting equipment to board games, RC cars,” Dep. Covian said. “The variety of items depends on what people donate. I’ve seen some electronic gadgets, maybe some portable gaming devices, and occasionally we get bicycles and things of that nature but it is a pretty large variety of toys to be sure.”
The demand this year is much the same as in years past, with a steady flow of inquiries from the public on how they can get involved or donate. The barrels are placed around town at grocery stores, libraries, schools, churches and other businesses that want to play host to the donations until they are picked up the day before the distribution event.
The toys and food are collected and stored by volunteers who manage the drive. Bill Latuf is one volunteer who has led the event for many years and Dep. Covian said is “indispensable.” On distribution day, the toys and food are taken down to Crescenta Valley Park where they are handed out bag-by-bag and toy-by-toy until all the donations have been given to those who need them on a first-come, first-served basis.
“For some families, it’s the first time [coming to the event]; for others they’ve been there before,” Dep. Covian said, “but the one awesome thing is when you get to watch the kids come in. At first, they look a little nervous and they’re not sure what they’re in for, but they all leave with just massive smiles, which is a great thing for us to see.”
This year, the distribution event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. and will run until all the toys and food donations have been given out, usually by 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to the toys and food donations, there will also be pictures with Santa and a free breakfast, courtesy of CV Park.
The last day to make donations is Friday, Dec. 15, so there is still time to help out.
“We can always use toys. I would say the most in-demand toys are those in the 6- to 12-year-old age range. That seems to be the sweet spot for toys. We can always use toys because there never seems to be enough,” Dep. Covian said. “There is a big demand for these items, especially for that age range.”