La Mesa Chamber members, friends and sponsors came together on December 4th to celebrate our strength and our strong belief in giving back – by collecting and distributing toys and items to military families living in La Mesa. This is the 3rd year that we have assisted these children and their families. We are honored to partner with the following sponsors who helped make this happen: BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Barnes & Noble – Grossmont Center, Cali Comfort BBQ, Carl Burger Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM World, Curbside Eatery & Drinkery, EDCO, First Command Financial Services, Grossmont Center, Kirk Paving, Inc., Jerry Lester, Riviera Supper Club and Valley Farm Market. We collected a total of 264 toys prior to and at the BJ’s party, 568 books from the “Stuff the Jeep” event, and purchased 2,194 toys, making our grand total of items donated this year 3,026. In addition to these gifts, we are also happy to announce that we purchased gift cards to Target in the amount of $1,005 for these families. A special thank you to Teresa McClatchy and her team at Barnes & Noble who sold/donated 568 books to the public through our one month “Stuff the Jeep” portion of this project and made a cash donation too! We also wish to thank Kyle Nyswonger and the team at Carl Burger Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM World who allowed one of their Jeeps to be staged in Grossmont Center for this campaign. Obviously, without a Jeep, we could NOT have done our “Stuff the Jeep” campaign! So, thank you Kyle and Carl Burger for everything!
The celebration at BJ’s was a loud and festive celebration of the completion of our toy drive and allowing members and guests to bring an unwrapped toy to the party for our military children. The toys just kept stacking up! The sponsored beverages flowed, and Danny Salvatierra and his team did a wonderful job of keeping the platters filled with piping hot pizzas, pasta dishes and chilled salads. Thanks to everyone who joined us and donated toys at the party and to those who made a financial investment and partnered with us on this special holiday project! A special thank you to our party sponsors: EDCO and First Command Financial Services, you made the night a roaring success! Jon Kirk, owner of Kirk Paving, Inc. was the winner of the evening raffle and graciously donated the prize back to the Chamber – Jon is always a great Chamber supporter!
Photo credit to Sandra Small/ Photographer.