7th Annual Baja Nomad Dia de Reyes Toy Drive, January 19, 2013

Yes, we will make it happen again, for the 7th year in a row. the 7th Annual Dia de Reyes Toy Drive.

As most of you know, back in 2005 both Doug (BajaNomad) and I met at a coffee shop in downtown San Diego and discussed the possibility of holding a toy drive for needy children in Baja that had not received presents for Christmas and having the (small) event on January 6th, Dia de Reyes, which is when children in México receive toys and asking for donations from nomads that could take advantage of the after the holiday specials. Well in my search for needy children (I was looking for maybe a group of 20 or 30 kids) the smallest group I found was from and impoverished area of Tijuana called Lomas Taurinas. The group had 72 children, I thought it was a lot of kids but accepted the challenge and posted the event here on the board. Well, to make a long story short, the first donor (Lori and Tommy Garcia from Team Cabo Magic) sent us toys and gifts enough for all 72 children so we looked for more kids. Some came from a school for disabled children and in total we had 112 or 114 kids, food and fun for all. You can read all about this on the threads for each year.

Now the event has grown a bit, year by year, more and more children, better and better venues. last year was amazing, having the event at El Trompo interactive museum with about 450 kids.

Somehow it always works out great, with more than enough gifts and food for all.

Well, last year, since it was going to be so big I asked for additional help from a group that helps needy families throughout the year and they did a fantastic job helping out with everything from gift wrapping to helping get the 5 buses necessary to transport the kids to el trompo.

Well, these same people have found me/us 1,500 children (Yes, fifteen hundred, one thousand five hundred) give or take a dozen or so. Wow!

The original date was set for January 6th but considering that as every year, each present has to be individually wrapped and tagged with each child's name, we have to get enough food for all, the date has been set for January 19th, a Saturday.

We have over a month to accomplish this task and I'm sure it will be done.

We lost last year a couple of sponsors, one helped us with some of the food and a couple of years provided us with the rosca de reyes, Maria Elvia Amaya de Hank (for the Punta Banda toy drive we stopped at Pueblo Amigo Hotel to pick up the roscas on the way down) And the other had come aboard for last years toy drive, Mr. Gregorio Barreto who helped us with the buses that brought the kids from the outskirts of Tijuana. RIP.



We have again, thanks to our friends at BajaBound Insurance a drop off location of were gifts or donations can be sent

The information is:
Toy Drive c/o Baja Bound Insurance Services, Inc.
750 11th Avenue #101
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone (619) 702-4292

And for those interested in attending, mexicoach will once again be providing the transportation, so let me know who is coming. I assure you, it's a great experience!

if you want to send egift certificates from Toys r us, the email is fernando@ultimatebaja.com

If you want to donate toys or food bu do not know what to get or can not send it, there is a Paypal account, fernando@vivabajacalifornia.com

Muchas Gracias.

Thank you so much in advance for making this Toy Drive once again possible,
Fernando Garcia y familia







[Edited on 12-11-2012 by BajaNomad]

You are a good man Ferna!

With the number of children we have for this years event, in food alone it will be a lot.
Well, the first donnor for the toy drive has offered to provide all the meat necesary for preparing the tamales. That is a big help since we have to consider that all these kids come accompanied by adults and everyone has always been fed.
his could grow to 2000

What type of meat?


Where are these to be cooked? On site?



.

[Edited on 12-12-2012 by DENNIS]

Thank you so much Woody

Bump

If there is anything we can do to help with this event, Sauzal is not far from TJ and we are retired and so have lots of time on our hands. My wife, Merry, is somewhat limited in mobility most of he time, but would be willing to do what she can. She is also somewhat fluent in spanish. My own mobility should be much closer to normal in about a week. Let me know. u2u works or ejw1047@aol.com

And some are hard to wrap

Quote:

Originally posted by fdt Quote: Originally posted by wilderone Don't wait until later - that's 1000+ gift to wrap! And some are hard to wrap

Classic! Thanks Ferna, that was so good...

Great news. Keep 'em coming

Actualy I was going to annnounce this, just hav'nt gotten the date set nor the tequila and taco sponsor

I'll post it as soon as I have it

Quote:

Originally posted by fdt the tequila and taco sponsor

Thank you.

Feliz Navidad to all

Please be on the lookout for after-Christmas sales with specials on toys.

Thank you for keeping this event - and these children - in mind during this shopping discount time.

I need to get more hormigas for the contraband

That wouldn't happen to be a good photo opportunity, would it?

We need a lot of toys

Feliz Año Nuevo a todos los Baja Nomadas

If you can read this you should be donating! Cmon folks.....

Hi Santiago;
There are no specific specifics (redundant?) as for the type of toys, ever, specially this time when we have so many kids. What is always easy to place are dolls, toy trucks and cars, balls, bikes, in other words the traditional toys, nothing elaborate or very expensive, we have kids from 4 to 15 both boys and girls.
What we do and have done in the past with whatever moneys are donated is purchase, usually at ToysRUs additional wrapping paper and some toys or help with the food. For a couple of years now we've had a sponsor help us with moneys for tamales, $160.00 dollars to be precise but we still have to get all of the disposables (forks, plates, napkins, cups, etc.) plus the beverages, a few times we've spent money for diesel for the buses and a couple of times have also helped people who help us go across to the US to pick up toys to bring back with gas money. This is, IMO the most time and cost consuming part of the entire toy drive, the smuggling in small amounts of toys. It's really not that much that we receive as for to put on such an event but thanks to additional help that we receive from friends here in Tijuana, we've always been able to get it done.

As for the gift wrapping party, I received an offer from a BajaNomad to help sponsor that but I thankfully declined, again because of the great number of children we have to get toys to that I would prefer to concentrate all efforts on the toy donations and use those resources offered towards that. For this year we've teamed up with a group called abba which is helping a lot with getting all the necessary volunteers for wrapping and more.
Along with them, we are looking into all the possibilities for bringing across all toys in one trip, legally, which is also needed for bringing across the meat to make the tamales, because it is a lot of meat needed to feed all these people.
Every year, we start not knowing how it will work out but it always does. I thought last years toy drive was a real challenge, because of the number of children, location, food and so on, but it worked out great.
I strongly encourage you and other nomads to participate the day of the event, it's a unique experience!
Saludos y gracias,
Flowers

Repeatedly.

There is a company in Phoenix, Sleep America, that is donating 5 boxes full of toys for our toy drive, we just need to go get them. Is anyone coming from that area to San Diego that could bring them for us? We will do the smuggling