Residents help CASA of Santa Barbara County’s efforts to fulfill Christmas wishes of local youths

This year’s gift drive for CASA of Santa Barbara County resulted in a record-breaking number of gifts fulfilling the wishes of youths in Santa Barbara County.
Santa Barbara County residents recently broke a record with their donations of gifts for foster youths.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Never has the need been so great.
That’s according to CASA of Santa Barbara County. (CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, who help youths.)
A total of 723 gifts were donated during CASA of Santa Barbara County’s “Christmas Wishes Drive,” which also garnered an additional $7,500 in chas and gift card donations. The efforts also included the “Bikes for Christmas” team, which raised money to provide bicycles for 47 youths. The bikes were built by UA Local 114 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, led by Mike Lopez, and displayed by Toyota of Santa Maria until they were given to the youths.
The annual “Christmas Wishes” collection has been a project for 15 years, but there has never been a year with so many children in need, said Kim Colby Davis, the executive director of CASA.
“The response from our community has been amazing, and just like CASA, our wish grantors covered the entire map of the county,” Ms. Davis said in a news release. “When ‘Christmas Wishes’ started, we collected close to 100 gifts.

“Today, we are happy to announce that all 723 children on our list had their Christmas Wish filled this year, and that would not happen without the partnerships we have built and the donors who join us to do this every year,” she said.
“Our annual gift drive is a bit different than most toy drives because we serve children from newborn to age 20,” Ms. Davis said. “The variety of ages means that their wishes and needs are widely different, and a toy drive would not meet the needs of our tiniest and our older youth.”
CASA of Santa Barbara County collected the kids’ wishes and coordinated with many service groups, business offices, companies, schools and individuals to make those wishes come true.
“Despite an economy that has seen its challenges, we had to try to make sure that children experienced the joy of a wish filled at Christmas,” Ms. Davis said. “Our donors are just amazing! I can’t even express how touched we are by the thoughtfulness of each gift. It’s inspiring to see how the community understands how important it is to give each child something they need or especially wish for at Christmas.”
Edwin Weaver, executive director of Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley, recalled what a mother told her when she dropped off some gifts for one of the organization’s families: “Thank you for making this possible – my kids are going to be so happy! God bless the people at CASA, we are so grateful that our kids are getting Christmas presents this year!”
David LeRoy, general manager of Toyota of Santa Maria, said he was happy to be part of the effort to help the kids. His business supplied the space that CASA needed to coordinate nearly 50 bicycles for kids.
“We absolutely love hosting the CASA Kids Christmas,” he said. “It is an honor and a privilege to serve these kids in any way that we can. We display all of the bikes that were donated to the kids the entire month of December. Our customers love looking at all of the bikes lined up in our showroom with bows and tags for the CASA kids.
“I think it helps remind all of us that there are those in our community who need a tremendous amount of support all year long, not just at Christmas,”
Mr. LeRoy said. “We sincerely appreciate CASA, the advocates, donors and volunteers. They all do incredible work in our community.”
email: dmason@newspress.com
FYI
CASA of Santa Barbara County urgently needs volunteers in its efforts to help youths. For more information, go to www.sbcasa.org.