Transit Toy Drive Collects More Than 500 Toys for Kids

By

December 16, 2011

The holiday season will be brighter for hundreds of children thanks to the generosity of people who donated toys to the San Mateo County Transit District’s Transit Toy Drive.

In conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program and the Salvation Army, the Transit Toy Drive received a total of 509 new, unwrapped toys and books this holiday season.

Transit District employees collected toys from mid-November through Dec. 5 and held public toy drive events at the District’s headquarters in San Carlos Nov. 28 and at the Redwood City Hometown Holidays celebration Dec. 3. The District set-up a toy collection booth at Hometown Holidays and participated in the parade. The West Bay Opera singers and the Salvation Army’s brass band provided holiday tunes at the booth.

Those in attendance at both events were treated to holiday goodies and a visit from some North Pole friends, including Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and the Gingerbread Girl.

The San Mateo County Transit District has sponsored a toy drive since 2001. In years past the Caltrain Holiday Train, a glittering show train decorated with thousands of lights, ushered in the holiday season on the Peninsula, stopping at selected stations and collecting thousands of toys. Although budget considerations forced the suspension of the Holiday Train in 2010 and 2011, SamTrans and Caltrain have continued to conduct a toy drive, collecting more than 45,000 gifts for needy Bay Area children.

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The San Mateo County Transit District is the administrative body for the principal public transit and transportation programs in San Mateo County: SamTrans bus service including Redi-Wheels paratransit service, Caltrain commuter rail and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. Caltrain and the TA have contracted with the Transit District to serve as their managing agency, under the direction of their independent board of directors.