72425 Via Vail
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
760-321-0694
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Christmas Toy and Food Box Drives
November 10 - November 29
Coachella Valley Unified School District Migrant Education Christmas Party
Toy and Food Box Drives: November 10 – 29
Food Box Packing Party: December 7, 1 – 3 pm
Volunteers Serve Dinner at the Migrant Families’ Christmas Party: December 10, 5 – 8 pm
Event Organizer: Joni Padduck
This 20-day event offers participants many opportunities to practice generosity by giving of their talents and treasures.
Each year the Coachella Valley Unified School District Migrant Education Program holds a Christmas Party for their students and families. This year’s party will be on December 10. Through your generous donations, each student will receive a gift and many families will receive food boxes.
There are over 1000 migrant children & youth in kindergarten through grade 12 within CVUSD and 100 in their After School Program. Please help our neighboring migrant families living in the East Valley have a more joyful Christmas by donating to our Toy and Food Box Drives.
Read on to find out how you can participate by giving monetary donations or volunteering for the Food Box Packing Party or serving dinner at the Migrant Family Christmas Party.
Each Food Box Will Be Filled With These Items
- Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
- Creamy Peanut Butter
- Canola Oil
- All Purpose Flour
- Macaroni & Cheese
- Fruit Cocktail
- Tomato Sauce
- Albacore Tuna
- Chocolate Pudding Cups
- Applesauce
- Can of Sweet Potatoes
- Iodized Salt
- Dry Pinto Beans
- Box of Ritz Crackers
- Dry Rice
- Old Fashioned Oats
- Spaghetti Noodles
- Pasta Sauce
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Nonfat Dry Milk
- Can of Sweet Corn
- Can of Mixed Vegetables
- Can of Sliced Carrots
- Can of Green Beans
- Can of Sliced Jalapeños
Donate
Toy Drive
Instead of purchasing toys and bringing them to UUCOD, we will collect donations electronically. They will be converted into RaiseRight e-gift cards, which will be sent to the Migrant Education Program. They will shop for the toys which will be gifted at the Christmas Party on December 10th. For most of them, if it wasn’t for our generosity, they would simply not receive anything at Christmas.
Click on the button below to donate electronically. Enter the amount of your donation on the Toy Drive line. You can pay by credit/debit card or have the funds withdrawn from your checking or savings account.
Food Box Drive
This is the fourth year that we are collecting Food Boxes. Each box costs $60, but if you cannot afford that amount, please give as much as you are able.
Click on the button below to donate electronically. Enter the amount of your donation on the Food Box Drive line. You can pay by credit/debit card or have the funds withdrawn from your checking or savings account.
Pay by Check: If you prefer to pay by check for either the Toy Drive or the Food Box Drive, it must be received by Friday November 29. Checks arriving after this date will be used for next year’s toy drive.
Mail To:
UUCOD
P.O. Box 2853
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
please write “Toy Drive Donation” or “Food Box Donation” on the Memo Line
Volunteer
Volunteer for the Food Box Packing Party
Here’s how the event is organized: Based on your generous giving, the organizers determine how many food boxes we can fill. They then order the food from Smart & Final.
On the day of the party, the drivers pick up the U-Haul truck and drive to Smart & Final. The boxes of individual food items are loaded into the truck and driven to the UCCOD parking lot. As the truck arrives the packers and movers spring into action. They create a line of tables stretching to the open doors of the truck. Others start unloading the boxes of food items from the truck. Then the assembly line begins!
Empty food boxes are stacked at the beginning of the line. Packers line the tables with the items they will place in each box. Each packer places their items in the food box that comes to them then passes the box onto the next person in line. At the end of the line the food boxes are stacked in the truck. When the truck is completely filled, it departs for the Migrant Ed Program in Thermal.
Volunteers Needed
- Organizers to take direction on setting up the assembly line.
- Movers to unload the food items from the truck, supply the assembly line with items and load the completely filled boxes back into the truck. Requires the ability to lift heavy items.
- Packers to fill the food boxes with items as the boxes move down the assembly line from person to person. No heavy lifting required. We need lots of packers,
- Cheerleader to set the scene for fun by providing music from their phone through bluetooth speakers.
Pictured are the happy 2023 packing party volunteers after filling the U-Haul truck with food boxes.
Volunteer to Serve Dinner at the Migrant Family Christmas Party
You will carpool from a mutually agreed upon location to Toro Canyon Middle School in Thermal, CA. Once there, you will receive your directions on what to do and what time dinner will begin. Take a moment to check out the room holding the toys that our generous Toy Drive donations purchased. During the evening you will also see the food boxes being handed out.
During dinner, you will have the privilege of serving our East Valley migrant families buffet style.
Generosity.
We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope.
We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.