STOCKTON – Christmas came early for hundreds of underprivileged children, thanks to an annual giveaway that this year took to the streets amid the pandemic.
209 Cares, in partnership with Anderson’s Towing, held a Christmas in the Street party for some 300 children Sunday, knocking on doors and giving out bicycles, scooters, remote-control cars, telescopes and other toys.
“With everything going on, (we) just wanted to be able to make them smile for a day,” Nancy Lamb, president of Stockton 209 Cares, said. “This year unfortunately, due to COVID, we had to take it to the streets.”
Pitching in for the first time this year was Anderson’s Towing, which provided its trucks to cart Santa and the gifts to the children – with the Grinch at the wheel – joined by San Joaquin County Supervisor Miguel Villapudua and District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar.
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors is weighing a possible legal challenge against state regional lockdown orders that went into effect earlier this month.
At its meeting Tuesday, the board directed County Counsel J. Mark Myles to analyze the legality of state mandates shutting down businesses and schools based on what several supervisors described as weak and arbitrary scientific evidence. I get it, we all want to be part of the solution, certainly not part of the problem, said Supervisor Tom Patti, who brought the idea of a lawsuit against the state before the board. But we do know . and all of us are aware the hardship that s happening here.