For the last 2 years we've organized a small get-together of off roaders in Southern California to generate toys for those kids in need. Last year it was Spark of Love and this year it was Toys for Tots. We figure its a good way to get together, see each others rigs, grill up some food and do something good for a child that may not get a gift otherwise.
This year we held the event at Cal Poly Pomona just like last year. Special thanks to Stewart for hooking us up with the college security and letting us take over. Unfortunately this year would be just like last, stormy weather. We had already planned out months in advance and prepared to much to change the date. So we headed out rain or shine.
At first it didn't look like anyone was going to show up. But as the morning went on and the weather slowly let up, people started arriving one by one.
The kids, this is what it's all about. They were eyeing all the toys for sure!
The rigs kept pouring in vehicle by vehicle. All shapes and sizes.
Some even decorated their rigs. Notice the fully functional christmas lights on the Jeep Grand Cherokee roof rack.
Linda showed off her uber cool flip pac on her full size Tundra. The kids went nuts.
Brent showed up with his new military trailer.
I think there were more dogs than people at this event..
After all the socializing and gawking at the rigs, we grilled up some dogs and started the raffle.
Special thanks to Mike at Northwest Overland in Portland Oregon for contributing all the food/drink for this wonderful event.
Im always ready to grill, come rain, snow or wind.. i'll be there manning my post!
The raffle comes about where everyone that brings a toy, gets a raffle ticket and we give away prizes from drawing their ticket. We also give away prizes to those people that drove the furthest to get the event, most decorated rig and the most toys donated.
People gathering around getting ready to win.
Yosh selecting tickets at random out of the official santa hat..
James won a cool trail wrench for most decorated rig! He had a wreath and christmas lights on his Jeep.
Mike and Lisa won a high intensity LED flashlight for driving the furthest! All the way from San Diego!
Linda won a SPOT messenger for donating the most amount of toys by any one person!
Special thanks to the following vendors for suppling raffle prizes: Alpha Expeditions, Overland Journal, Adventure Trailer, The Solder Joint, Kilby Off Road and Trasharoo. Please visit their websites located at the right handside of this web page. These companies went out of their way to supply us with stuff to give away and they will continue to get our support for anything we may need. Please take a minute and check them out.
So, at the end the day it wasn't about the rigs, it wasn't about the raffle prizes, it wasn't about the food, it was about the kids. We raised over 100 toys for the kids in need. And that's the important part. We literally filled the Landcruiser..
After all was said and done, we took the toys over to Los Alamitos Base home of the 2nd Battalion 23rd Marines.
All in all i'd say we did alright considering the weather was lousy. Next year i plan to do it again but maybe kick it up a weekend prior to avoid any storms that may head our way. I want to personally thank all who came out and beared the wet weather for a good cause, without you guys we wouldn't have had the toys we received.
See you next year!
(ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES CHATARY ©)