Holiday season donation drives offer ways to give back
Mother Lode residents who are looking for ways to help others in need this holiday season can do so at a number of donation drives over the coming weeks, beginning this Saturday with the Cal Fire and the Tuolumne County Fire Department’s annual Sue Arrouzet Toy Drive.
This year’s Sue Arrouzet Toy Drive will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in the Crossroads Shopping Center parking lot on Sanguinetti Road.
The event honors Cal Fire Capt. Sue Arrouzet, who suffered a careerending back injury in 2011 while battling a house fire in Copperopolis
Families in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties will benefit from toys collected at the event through programs including the Amador-tuolumne Community Action Agency’s Adopt-a-family program and Toys for Tots.
Toys can also be dropped off at any Cal Fire or Tuolumne County Fire Department station through Saturday.
ATCAA is also still seeking adopters who will help support 130 families benefiting from the organization’s Adopt-a-family program this year. More information about the program can be found at www.atcaa.org/adopt-a-family.
Here are some of the other donations drives happening in the area this month:
• V Restaurant, Bistro and Bar in Murphys is collecting toys and bikes until Monday to benefit the Toys for Tots program. Those who chose to donate a bike will get a coupon for 20% off their next visit.
• A virtual auction and holiday lunch prepared by Chef Dave Cooks will benefit the Yes Partnership, a community-wide coalition focused on preventing substance abuse,
child abuse and suicide. People have until Monday to pre-order a lunch for $25, which can be picked up between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Dec. 9. The virtual auction began Thursday and ends at 8 p.m. this coming Thursday, Dec. 8, at https://one.bidpal.net/ yesluncheon2022/welcome.
• Firefighters from the Cal Fire Tuolumne-calaveras Unit will be collecting monetary donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association at a fill-theboot fundraiser between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Dec. 10 in The Junction shopping center on Mono Way.
• The Sozo Fellowship is currently collecting stocking stuffers, toys, and monetary donations for its second annual Stocking Stuffer Drive. The church is still taking nominations through Dec. 10 of families who would benefit and already has over 120 signed up. For more information, contact Casie Schornick, with Century 21 Wildwood Properties and the Home Scene, at casieschornick@gmail.com or (209) 7681991, or go to the church’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ SOZOFEllowship1.
• The fifth annual Sonora Drive-thru Living Nativity will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 17 at 17457 Murphy Road, Sonora, near the intersection of Wards Ferry and Old Wards Ferry roads. The event is free, xcollecting non-perishable food items for the ATCAA Food Bank in Jamestown.