Dear Fort Irwin Toy Drive Supporter;
For the last six years our classic car club, Inland Mopars (So Cal), has chosen to show our gratitude to our military families stationed at Fort Irwin, our military’s National Training Center for troops prior to deployment (located in the Mojave Desert 35 miles outside of Barstow, California, at the end of the "world's longest cul-de-sac"), through an annual toy drive. This makes it possible for the 1500 to 3000 children of our active duty soldiers stationed at Fort Irwin to have a merry Christmas. We have been told by Fort Irwin personnel that without the toys collected, many kids would not get anything at Christmas.
In the past, Inland Mopars had joined forces with other car shows to collect toys. This year with COVID-19 eliminating large gatherings, the car shows that would have helped us with the toy gathering process have been cancelled, including our annual December toy drive party.
The kids on base range in age from infants to teenagers so items are needed for both boys & girls of all ages (please see attached Wish List). In the past we have had some “bike angels donate bicycles … 25 in 2017, 50 in 2018 and 80 in 2019. As not everyone can be given a bike, an opportunity drawing is held in addition to the toy distribution. Each military family at the "Christmas in January" toy distribution is given a ticket for a chance to win a bike. Tickets are drawn until all bicycles have been given away.
Inland Mopars will deliver the collected toys to Fort Irwin on the second or third weekend in December, which gives base personnel time to organize them by gender and age group. A majority of the active duty soldiers and families are on Christmas leave the latter part of December; so upon their return, toys are distributed the first Saturday in January, before the soldiers start their first rotation training.
Please send me a PM with your email address if you would like a copy of any of the following for review:
· The history of Fort Irwin
· Our previous years’ toy drive efforts
· An acknowledgement of thanks from Fort Irwin’s Garrison Commander.
How You Can Help:
· Donate funds on the GOFUNDME link on our website, www.inlandmopars.org, or here; Soldiers Kids Need Toys Too, organized by Ken Hamer. 100% of these funds will be used to purchase toys for the soldiers kids at Fort Irwin.
For those located in SoCal:
· There are toy drive drop off boxes in businesses listed on our website where you can leave your donations. Please send me a PM with your email if you would like a list of locations sent to you.
· We can arrange to pick up toy donations anywhere in Southern California
· There are still three toy drive events where we will be collecting toys:
- November 14 - 9AM-1PM at Ramona Tire Store, 11836 Foothill Blvd., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730.
- November 21 - "Mopars and Friends @ MoTech Performance" 2020 Open House - 10AM-2PM - MoTech Performance, 41715 Elm Street, #301, Murrieta, CA 92562
- November 28 - Toy Drive Car Show - 1PM-4PM at Bob's Big Boy restaurant, 3521 Hamner Avenue, Norco, CA 92860.
Please send me a PM with your email address if you would like any additional information.
Will you help make a difference in a military child’s Christmas?
Thank you in advance,
Ken (ocdart)
President
Inland Mopars Car Club
