The California Highway Patrol Newhall-area Office hosted its inaugural “Stuff-A-Bus” toy drive as a part of the CHiPs for Kids toy drive campaign for families in need at Walmart on Kelly Johnson Parkway, with about 937 toys being collected over Saturday and Sunday.
Officer Carlos Burgos-Lopez, public information officer of the CHP Newhall-area Office, said that the CHiPs for Kids toy drive was started in 1988 by CHP officers in Los Angeles who wanted to help bring toys to children in need.
“We’re fortunate enough to be out in Santa Clarita, which is a really good community, very pro-law enforcement and also very giving … especially during this time of year. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now,” Burgos-Lopez said. “And the community always comes out. They always pull through and we’re always able to get a lot of toys out.”
Many people were donating new, unwrapped toys of all shapes and sizes for the children and teenagers in need.
Burgos-Lopez said he got the idea from the CHP Antelope Valley-area Office and liked the idea of the school bus.
“So last year was my first time taking over and running the program. And when I heard that Antelope Valley had the program like that where they bring a school bus out, I got real excited and I wanted to see what we had to do to get a bus out here. So luckily one of our local transportation companies was able to provide a school bus for us,” Burgos-Lopez said.
Craig Sykes, a senior volunteer with the CHP, said that this event gives him the reminder that so much goes on in people’s lives, and people do not realize it until it is in front of them.
“I think we live our lives, and I think a lot of times we just assume everything is (OK) … But, you know, there’s a lot going on in the community,” Sykes said. “There’s a lot of needy individuals and children and people and I think it’s important for us to try to, you know, keep an open view of that and try to help when we can.”
One mother, Laura Mantelli, walked out of Walmart with her children, Sloane, 2, and Lucas, 4, and gave officers some new toys she had just bought.
Mantelli said that donating toys and giving back is the “reason for the season.”
“They (her children) got to choose what they were going to bring, so my son chose a little veterinary toy, and my daughter got a little pop walker,” Mantelli said.
She added that it is important to spread joy just like she sees on her children’s faces on Christmas morning opening gifts.
