Beach Cities Toy Drive: The hard part is wrapping the presents

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”239″ display=”masonry” animate_images_enable=”0″ animate_images_style=”wobble” animate_images_duration=”1500″ animate_images_delay=”250″ ngg_triggers_display=”always”]Collecting toys is only half of the job of the Beach Cities Toy Drive. Thousands of toys were collected this season, including six boxfuls  of toys donated at Jeremy Buck’s Rock for Tots concert, six pallets of toys donated by Greg Tucker’s Bay Cities Packaging, and 30 bikes and helmets donated by Hermosa Cyclery. 

The second half of the toy drive is wrapping the thousands of donated presents. Hundreds of volunteers participated at the 32nd Annual Beach Cities Toy Drive Wrapping Party, held at Joslyn Center on Saturday, December 20. The frantic volunteers were fueled by a lunch organized by Baja Sharkeez’ Ron Newman and Lorenzo Pittera, and provided by Frito Misto, Paisanos, American Junkie, Patrick Molloy’s, Eat at Joes, Hennessey’s Tavern, Cafe Bonaparte and Sharkeez.

Winners of the oldest Toy Drive T-shirt was Peggy Barr, wearing a 1994 T-shirt. She and her husband Warren, have participated in the girf wrapping since 1993 when the toy drive began. There were no T-shirts the first year

After each toy was wrapped it was labeled by sex, and appropriate age for distribution to local charities. ER