Carson City shines with children, smiles and generosity at 2015 Holiday with a Hero

Nearly 240 Carson City school children were treated Wednesday to an early Christmas that was made possible from Santa’s capital city connection of volunteers, contributors and a community that continues to give of itself in cash and time to those who would have otherwise gone without.

Holiday with a Hero continues to shine its light around the Carson City community, having raised more than $24,000 from citizen contributions and adding children to its giving list, which culminated with the arrival of Santa Claus via a Care Flight helicopter, a group hug with the man in red, followed by a huge shopping spree through the aisles of Walmart.

“All of Carson City has a role in this. It’s not just one agency. All hands are on deck today,” said Carson City Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Daniel Gonzales, a founding member the program that began 11 years ago that pairs children with cops, firefighters, servicemen and servicewomen, public officials, elected leaders, and volunteers. These Heroes are given $100 and an hour or so with a child to walk through the store to help them buy Christmas gifts for themselves and their families.

Gonzales said the first year of the program 55 students qualified. Over the years, it has grown to nearly 300 children in the Carson City School District’s McKinney-Vento Students in Transition program. The Carson City Fire Department was also a notable hero organization this year, taking on a big part of the fundraising to ensure enough money was raised.

The students have been identified as part of the McKinney-Vento program through the Carson City School District. This program helps children who’s families are identified as homeless, living in shelters, motel rooms and not having permanent homes, said Peggy Sweetland, special projects coordinator and McKinney-Vento students in transition liaison for the Carson City School District.

"As the needs continue to grow so has Holiday with a Hero," said Sweetland. "It's really a community effort that really pulls this thing together."

The McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Assistance Act is a federal law that ensures immediate enrollment and educational stability for homeless children and youth. McKinney-Vento provides federal funding to states for the purpose of supporting district programs that serve homeless students.

“Today represents the generosity of all of Carson City and it couldn’t have happened without them,” said Gonzales. “The people who came to our Holiday Crawl, to the generosity of groups, clubs, organizations and individuals, and those heroes here today. What brought everyone together for this was the unifying goal of getting some of our local kids a Christmas.”

This year also launched Carson City’s first ever Holiday Crawl, a festive pub crawl through downtown bars earlier this month with nearly $10,000 raised for the annual shopping spree.

For Walmart employees, Holiday with a Hero has been embraced, with associates coming in on their days off to participate, said store manager Stacey Martinez.
"Our associates have joined in, working behind the scenes to get us prepared for what we have here today," she said. "It's a community program we champion."

Volunteer Hero Nichole Landers with the Nevada National Guard helped a young girl, Lillian, shop for items for her family and a toy for herself. She said the experience of seeing the kids line up when Santa Claus arrived by way of CareFlight was heartwarming and the event itself brings the holidays close to home.

"This is what it is about," she said.