Toy Drive

The long weekend continues, along with great shopping, friends, family, and fun. It’s Small Business Saturday, which is a great time to explore our downtown shops, and the local businesses throughout town. Don’t miss the Christmas Kick-off at Evergreen Gene’s, complete with a visit from Santa. Carson Valley Inn hosts its annual Kandy Kane Holiday Craft Fair. You will also find great Nevada items in our Museum Gift Shops and at the Chamber of Commerce’s Artisan Gallery.

Small Business SATURDAY:

Today is a day for leftovers and crazy shopping. If your family is in town, take them down to opening day at the Arlington Square Ice Rink. The Railroad Museum of Northern Nevada has rides on the McKeen Motor Car special for this weekend. Pinkerton Ballet begins its annual run of the Nutcracker at the Bob Boldrick Theater tonight. Get inspired for your own decorations at Candy Cane Lane: Carson Valley Inn’s drive-thru light show. Happy birthday to the Blue Bull; beer and cocktail specials start at noon.

FRIDAY:

The Marine Corps League, organizing the annual 'Toys for Tots' toy drive for families in need in the Northern Nevada region says local Walmart stores have removed donation boxes from area locations.

The Carson City store on Market Street and the store in Gardnerville on Grant Avenue, have allowed the Carson City Toys for Tots group to place donation boxes at their stores. The group says managers at the Topsy Lane location told them they were instructed by Walmart's corporate office not to allow the donation bins because Walmart as a corporation was only allowing donations to be made to the Children's Miracle Network.

The Salvation Army serving Carson City and Douglas County is seeking gifts for boys and girls ages 13 to 17 during their annual holiday toy drive.

Even with 82 locations around Carson City and Douglas County, including 27 of the Salvation Army’s ubiquitous red-kettle bell-ringers, Lt. Mark Cyr of the Salvation Army said teenagers are the most often overlooked population during holiday gift giving.

'Tis the Season, Carson City! Holiday cheer is in the wind, and we have plenty of wind right now. This weekend is jam-packed with food and toy drives, concerts, and Santa-sightings, so bundle up and have a fun time enjoying our great city.

Happy Black Friday, Carson City! I hope you have all survived the gluttony and gratitude that is Thanksgiving and are ready for the weekend. I am once again pleased to bring you the event list that is featured on my Facebook page, I love Carson City. I follow the pages of local businesses and organizations, search website calendars, and compile a list of anything and everything going on in this community weekly.

Dudley Chiropractic will be hosting All I Want For Christmas, a coat and toy drive for local families in need during the entire month of December.

This initiative will be benefiting families and individuals in need during this holiday season by collecting used coats and new toys (still in boxes) for less fortunate children. This is an incredible effort that the members of Dudley Chiropractic have taken to heart, and Dr. Thomas Dudley expects to have a large donation to send by the end of December.

The Salvation Army is currently recruiting volunteers to help throughout the holidays. The Salvation Army in Carson City is expecting to serve more than 5,000 people this coming holiday season.

In Partnership with Carson City and community businesses we invite you to this FREE Christmas event for child from Newborn to age Twelve and your families.

There will be FREE Christmas present for a child (one per child, while they last), FREE cookies, FREE hot chocolate, FREE Turkey Giveaways (Find the golden Christmas tree to claim your turkey), and an appearance by Santa Claus and Buddy the Elf!

Don't miss out, come Saturday December 21st, 9:00AM-11:00AM, at Carson City Community Center; located at 851 E. Williams St.

The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Christmas program will benefit from the first annual Battle of the Bars Toy Drive. Carson City area bars and taverns have been collecting toys since late November and will push for a final count this Sunday, Dec. 15, 6 p.m.

The Salvation Army officials will be “Bar Hopping” this Sunday afternoon and evening picking up toys and thanking everyone for their support of this Toy Drive.

Update: Fighters Against Child Abuse, is expanding to include "Socks Of Love" As part of their Christmas Coat & Toy Drive
In conversations with CASA, a major need is new socks and underwear, of sizes for all ages from 0-17 for children entering the child abuse system. These children arrive with nothing but what they are wearing. Two drop off locations have been added!

Our needs are:
Socks (New)
Underwear (New)
Sneakers all sizes (New)
Coats & Clothing (new or gently used
Gift Cards to purchase clothing items.
Monetary Donations.

Official Drop Off Centers are, Carson City;

Who doesn't smile, nod at the bell ringer and put some extra change in the Salvation Army kettle over the holiday season?

It takes a lot of people to see through the annual campaign. The Salvation Army in Carson City will hold a job fair Friday and is looking for kettle workers, an office assistant and drivers to help with the holiday season. The fair runs from 10 a.m. to noon at the Salvation Army, 661 Colorado Street.

Zombie apocalypse hits Carson City on Saturday, Oct. 19 with "Zombies Run for Your Life" a 5K fun-run, food and toy drive with proceeds to benefit the Salvation Army and F.I.S.H. in helping them get a jump start to their holiday season.

The run will be at Riverview Park in Carson City at end of 5th Street and Marsh Road. The run starts at 10 a.m. and costs $30 up to the day before the race, then $40 the day of the race.

Carson City Library is an officially designated place in Carson City to drop-off holiday cheer, in the form of giving, to so many of our area residents in need of a little festive spirit and warmth.

Lake Tahoe South is New Year’s celebration central with Snow Globe, a three-day outdoor music festival with over 40 world-class musicians on three main stages, firework shows, combined with a myriad of outdoor recreation, entertainment and nightlife, providing action-packed holiday season for kids of all ages.

Dear Editor: Once again the Dayton community has come together and made a difference for so many families during the holidays.

The Dayton toy drive received applications for over 650 kids this year and we were quite concerned that there would not be enough to go around. Fortunately a large, eager, group of volunteers came together who were quick to get down to business and get the donations and interest pouring in. It wasn’t long before businesses, as well as community organizations and individuals were giving.

Marine Sgt. Justin Block and Santa load toy barrels Friday morning, Dec. 17, 2010, as part of the Toys for Tots toy drive at the Capitol in Carson City, Nev. Workers at more than a dozen state agencies participated in the 8th annual toy drive coordinated by the Capitol Police.

Toys for Tots Coordinator Joyce Buckingham says they'll be helping more than 7,000 kids in Carson, Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties and that more toys and donations are still needed. For more information, go to www.ToysForTots.org and choose the Carson City link.
Photo by Cathleen Allison/NevadaPhotoSource.com

To view more of Allison's photographs click here.

The Healthy Communities Coalition is collecting new toys and used or new books for teens and children in our area for those who may otherwise go without gifts at Christmas.

New unwrapped gifts and gently used books can be dropped off at the Dayton Community Center at 170 Pike Street, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Celtic Lawn and Landscape recently showed its holiday goodwill by giving back to the town of Dayton, Nev. When the owner and employees of Celtic heard that the Dayton Toy Drive had already received 60 applications from families in need of gifts for their children, they came up with a creative way to help.

Wendy Madson of Healthy Communities Coalition will facilitate an open meeting on Monday Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Dayton Community Center at 170 Pike Street for any groups that are or would like to be involved in any community assistance for Dayton during the holidays (gifts, coats, hats, mittens, etc.)