Raiderettes making sure kids have a happy Christmas
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| Raiderettes (Erica-left and Yoshie-right), children and Marines pose for the Toys for Tots Drive with Raiderdrive "Tots Drive" with Marines who do this event annually. This is Raiderdrive's 4th annual event and will make it an annual event with the Marines Down Town Christmas in the Park in San Jose Ca yearly. |
They’re used to touching the hearts of fans worldwide, but nothing means more to Football’s Fabulous Females than bringing a smile to the faces of children.
Two of the Oakland Raiderettes - Yoshie and Erica - did their part this past weekend to ensure the happiness of many boys and girls for this coming Christmas morning, helping the United States Marines collect scores of toys for the annual Toys for Tots campaign at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown San Jose.
“I’m excited about this,” said Yoshie, as she and Erica helped unload a growing number of cars carrying bags and boxes of toys and loaded them into a waiting Valley Transportation Authority bus. “All the kids in the Bay Area deserve toys and for them to not have any is something I can’t allow to happen.”
Thankfully, the event at the Christmas in the Park display will go a long way towards helping the Santa Clara County chapter of Toys for Tots reach its goal of collecting 200,000 toys. Last year, it collected 150,000, but the need is much greater now as many parents are out of work or overseas in military duty, said Sylvia Manker, chapter president.
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Soldiers help load a transit bus full of toys for the "Drive". (Photo by Larry Garcia) |
By volunteering their time to sign autographs and take pictures with fans in exchange for donations to buy toys, the Raiderettes are playing a big part in that goal.
“It builds a lot of excitement having them (Raiderettes) here and maybe bring out some of the people that normally wouldn’t come down,” Manker said.
Erica said she’s happy to be part of the effort.“Christmas is my favorite time of year. And what we’re doing, it definitely makes a big difference,” she said. “If we can affect one kid, then all that we do today will be worth it.”
Transit bus filled with toys for all those beautiful children in need.
Lots of
great photos of the event with Marines, Raiderettes and Raiderdrive!
Click for Photo Gallery
(Toys
for Tots Drive)
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