Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event puts families in the driver’s seat 

Santiago Contreras, 3, pretends to drive the city of Santa Clarita’s Old Town Express trolley on Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal
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His oldest boy was in awe of the car carrier, a truck and trailer loaded down with motion picture vehicles on Saturday morning at the Touch-A-Truck event in Santa Clarita Central Park.  

Valencia resident Yinka Ogunro was with his wife and their two sons. 

“This is what he takes to work,” Ogunro said to his son. 

Ogunro’s wife reminded the boy that he’d gotten a toy truck just like that for his birthday, and then together they counted how many cars were parked on the truck trailer. The boy counted with excitement. 

The Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation hosted its Third Annual Touch-A-Truck fundraising event on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., where families with children of all ages could explore a wide array of large career vehicles up close. 

Families take a look at an AMR ambulance Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

According to foundation board President James Backer, proceeds from the event would go toward many foundation programs, including several literacy programs in the area. 

“We have a ‘Bag of Books’ program, we have a ‘Read with Me’ program,” he said. “Those are for elementary schools. We also have a ‘Page Turners’ program, where we provide junior high kids with two free books they get to own. We try to promote libraries and all that kind of thing, too, but it’s nice for kids to own their own books.” 

Backer mentioned other programs the funding would help, programs that help kids in other subjects, and programs for administrators and teachers, including a grant program that rewards teachers with monies they need for their classrooms.  

“We can raise upwards of 20 grand,” he said. “That’s thanks to our great sponsors. And then people pay $5 admission for anyone over 2 years old.” 

The SCV Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with all five school districts in the SCV, including the Castaic Union School District, the Newhall School District, the Saugus Union School District, the Sulphur Springs Union School District and the William S. Hart Union High School District, all of which combine to make up 55 public schools serving over 50,000 students. 

The Touch-A-Truck event was packed, with multiple parking lots in Central Park totally full. 

Attendees line up to get inside the REACH helicopter Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

“It gets families out here,” Backer said. “We’ve been really thrilled so far. And we’re glad for the good weather.” 

Saturday was supposed to bring rain. Instead, people came to the event under blue skies and cool climates.  

At Touch-A-Truck, guests could get up close and sometimes get into vehicles, everything from school buses, law enforcement vehicles, a cement truck and the Santa Clarita Old Town Express city trolley, to the REACH Air Medical Services helicopter, ambulances, dump trucks and, what seemed to be every boy’s favorite, the Burrtec trash truck. 

A young boy looks into a helicopter Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

Santa Clarita resident Mike Crawford was at the event with his wife and their two sons, and with Crawford’s dad, who was with one of the kids on the train that was circling the field of vehicles. Crawford said his oldest son couldn’t wait to see the garbage truck when they arrived. 

“He loved the garbage truck,” he said. “There’s a song called ‘Garbage Truck’ by Blippi, and he (his son) loves singing that. But he’s checked out all of them. He checked out the moving truck, checked out the cement truck, the police cars.” 

Crawford grew up in the SCV and wished there was something like Touch-A-Truck when he was younger. As a newer parent, however, he really appreciated the family-friendly gathering and was glad he could share it with his own family. 

Three-year-old Huxley Nelson, right, uses a communication device in a Los Angeles County Disaster Communications vehicle Saturday during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

Castaic resident Haley Fairfax said she’d heard about the event through Facebook. She was there with her husband, their two kids and their dog. They were just getting out of the helicopter, but like Crawford’s son, the oldest boy in the group was most excited to check out the garbage truck. 

“Every trash day we have to go out to say hi to the trash truck,” Fairfax said. “So, that was the main thing he wanted to see here. He wanted to play in the trash truck.” 

The event had various vendors to check out and a line of food trucks offering a wide variety of treats and meals to eat. A DJ played music, though it didn’t overtake the sound of kids honking truck horns and switching on sirens.  

Seven-year-old Aaron, right, takes a look at the different components in a United States Postal Services truck Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

There was, however, a sensory-sensitive quiet hour that took place from 9 to 10 a.m., when no horns or sirens were used. According to Backer, that time was for the children who are more sensitive to noise. 

The truck driver who drove the car carrier that Ogunro and his family enjoyed said he got a kick out of seeing all the kids come by to get in and out of his truck, to see what it was like inside. He said that when he was a kid, he, too, loved trucks. Now, as a Teamster driver for Studio Picture Vehicles Inc., he gets to drive a truck for a living.  

Many kids throughout the morning were saying that’s what they wanted to do when they got bigger. For the time being, however, they enjoyed the chance to see these vehicles up close and personal. And their parents could help support local schools. 

For more information about the SCV Education Foundation, go to SCVEducationFoundation.org. 

Children greet passersby from inside the city of Santa Clarita’s Old Town Express trolley on Saturday morning during the SCV Education Foundation’s Touch-A-Truck event at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Katherine Quezada/The Signal

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