The Soboba Foundation once again brought seasonal joy to thousands of children through its annual Soboba Gives Back toy distribution. Highlighted with two “Unstuff the Bus” events for San Jacinto and Hemet unified school district families, local nonprofits were also grateful to receive gifts for those they know are struggling this time of year.
It takes a lot of planning and preparation to make this happen and Soboba Foundation members started working with the Walmart Supercenter in San Jacinto in September to secure enough toys to cover all the requests. With age groups of infants through teens, the team members at Walmart helped choose toys that would appeal to the children.
The first, and largest, event was on Dec. 9 when hundreds of volunteers arrived at the San Jacinto Unified School District offices to Unstuff the Soboba bus that was filled with 800 toys. Led to the warehouse parking lot by a Soboba Fire engine, the bus came to a halt at the end of two long lines of helpers who passed the toys along in bucket brigade fashion to sorters waiting inside the warehouse. It took about 20 minutes for all the toys to be stacked on designated tables.
There was lots of hot chocolate, Christmas themed cookies and a variety of tamales to keep everyone warm and content while they waited for the bus to arrive. It was a welcome opportunity for community members to connect outside of their traditional roles, coming together for a shared purpose.
Recipients of the delivered gifts were chosen by SJUSD school site family liaisons who provide a list of children’s ages and genders. The following day, toys were bagged up and tagged for each of the families to pick up while enjoying a visit to Santa’s Village, held at the same location on Saturday, Dec. 14.
“We try to make it cute and festive for our families,” said Sheila Blythe, School, Family, & Community Liaison at the district’s Family Engagement Center. Working with the center’s Family & Community Engagement Specialist Stefany Curiel, the duo assists the school site family liaisons in making sure all needs are met for the annual event.
SJUSD Superintendent David Pyle welcomed everyone when it was announced that the bus was a mere block away from the location.
“If you haven’t been to this event before, you are in for a treat,” he told the crowd. “This is our 15th year that we’re doing the Unstuff the Bus. It was brought to us by Rose Salgado (from Soboba), who we miss dearly. Rose brought it to our district in 2009 and the tradition continues today.”
Pyle was appreciative and thankful to all who came which included members of the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Greater San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce, several first responders, City of San Jacinto staff and Councilmembers, as well as SJUSD staff, teachers, administrators, students and their families.
“This is always such a great night that comes on the heels of November’s turkey distribution by Soboba,” said Pyle, who joined the district in 2020. “These are just bigger events that add to all the other contributions the Tribe makes to us and our students. We couldn’t do what we do without our strong partnership with Soboba.”
Soboba Foundation President Dondi Silvas was at the start of one of the lines receiving gifts that were offloaded from the bus by members of the Soboba Fire Department and others. Also on hand was Foundation Secretary Andy Silvas, Tribal Council members Mike Bentiste, Daniel Valdez and Chairman Isaiah Vivanco. Maria Vivanco, who also was helping on behalf of the Friends of Valley-Wide Foundation, stood near Soboba Tribal member Rhianna Salgado who was joined by fellow Air Force JROTC members from San Jacinto High School.
“We are happy to be able to help and contribute to those that are in need, especially at this time of the year,” said Chairman Vivanco, who has served on the Soboba Tribal Council since 2015. “It’s great to see all these volunteers out here helping us unstuff the bus. It brings the community that much more together; it’s pretty cool.”
More than 3,000 toys were distributed to area churches, youth groups, nonprofits and other Tribal communities on Dec. 10 and 11. This was followed by another Unstuff the Bus event at Tahquitz High School on Dec. 12 for needy families whose children attend Hemet Unified schools.
After the bus arrived at the high school at 5:30 p.m., hundreds of volunteers made a two-line brigade that led from the parking lot to the cafeteria. Lots of colorful lights decorated an archway under which the helpers stood. Inflatables, hot cocoa, cookies and tamales greeted those who arrived about 60 minutes before the bus so they could mingle while holiday songs blared from the loudspeakers.
It took about 30 minutes for all 1,000 toys to make their way from the bus to the waiting hands inside the food kiosk room where items were sorted by gender and age group. Tahquitz High School office manager Joi Burden has been volunteering for the event since the program began.
“I love coming out to help every year; I always worked in different areas, but I like the sorting area the best,” said Burden, who has been at Tahquitz for the past 15 years and is in her fourth year as office manager. “We usually get a good turnout of students and other school staff to unstuff the bus. It’s a great event and we really appreciate Soboba for doing this.”
Miriam Ortiz, Coordinator, School, Family and Community Partnerships at HUSD, said about 25 school site liaisons work hard each year to be sure that the families that need it most are the ones who receive the generous toy donations from the Soboba Foundation. A holiday party for families to come to the school and pick up their gifts amid a festive atmosphere was planned for Dec. 18.
“We usually serve close to 400 to 500 families, depending on the size,” Ortiz said.
Members of the Tahquitz baseball team, ASB, school staff, Principal Andrew Holmes and HUSD Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Mary Wendland were among those who were on hand to assist with the toys. Ortiz said it is nice that Holmes opens his school for all community events.
Hemet Police Sgt. Tim McGinnis was joined by about five officers who were passing the toys along the long line. “Our school resource officers are in the mix; they have numerous events in December,” he said.
“I am so happy to be able to help out every year,” Soboba Foundation President Dondi Silvas said. “To know we are providing families with something to make their Christmas that much brighter is such a blessing. It also fills my heart to see the number of volunteers grow each year to get the buses unstuffed.”
StylePhotography by Alex Tapia photos
