The 10th annual Christmas For Kids Toy Run Caravan and Raffle was
held on Saturday December 3, 2005. The sky was grey. The roads were
snow packed and icy, and snow was falling from the skies. This did
not deter us from an event that we work hard for and look forward
to all year though. Most were locals but some traveled from Fountain,
Woodland Park, Castle Rock, and Denver to join our little parade.
A little snow and freezing temperatures were not going to keep us
from decorating our rigs and trekking across town to deliver our gifts.
After all we don't call them Four-Wheel Drives for nothing!!!
With Santa leading the way and 94 rigs cheerily following we made
our way from the north side of the Springs to the downtown headquarters
of DHS, where caseworkers and the media eagerly awaited to see what
we had brought the children and what tricks we would demonstrate with
our four wheeled toys. Even the "Big" kids like to play
and showoff and the caseworkers love the "dogpile".
In 2005, we raised $13,680.00, giving Christmas to 306 children
in El Paso County that otherwise would not have had one. The number
of children has not gone up much over the previous two years, but
the gift value average increased from $25.00-30.00 to $44.00. The
money is raised by a combination of individual contributions for adoptions
at Christmas time, fundraisers that we do throughout the year with
Gold Canyon Candle Company and Butter Braids, and items donated by
local merchants and Industry vendors for a post run raffle.
The 2006 Christmas for Kids Toy Run & Raffle is scheduled for
Saturday December 2. The Raffle will be held in downtown Colorado
Springs at South Side Johnny's and is being organized by our local
club The RockReapers. This years Raffle is expected to be bigger than
ever by both attendees and prize wise as the CoA4WDCI raffles off
the 2006 Raffle Vehicle, a 1981 CJ8 Scrambler.
Thanks to everyone who participates with Christmas for Kids: those
who adopt and participate in the fundraising, those of you who buy
from our fundraisers, Kmart on North Nevada for allowing us all the
many crazy shopping days and giving us discounts, Colorado Springs
Police Department for the police escort that keeps us safe on our
run and all the local merchants who donate items to our post Toy Run
Raffle.
