Christmas cheer in Sunnyside

Christmas is a time of year for giving and sharing with others; it is a time when peace on earth should reign. That is certainly what happened when the Sunnyside Weed and Seed Association, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and the National Marine Corps Toys for Tots, along with Santa Claus and numerous volunteers gave out toys, candy and all kinds of goodies to the resident children of the Sunnyside neighborhood.

This is the first annual event for the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association, which began when the Sunnyside Association and Goodwill got together and realized that something needed to be done to get the community involved. They came up with an idea to join forces and begin a toys outreach program.

“It came to our attention that we needed to bring the neighborhood and the city together,” said Sgt. Stephanie Jefferson of the Arizona National Guard Drug Demand Reduction Program. “We wanted to get the whole Sunnyside community involved to celebrate Christmas in a special way.”

Indeed the community got involved in a huge way— over 650 bags of candy and toys were donated. The proceeds of the event outreached to more than 375 children and 5 needy families received gifts that ranged from toys to coats. The Association became aware of the needy families through the help of Goodwill, Headstart and United Way.

The Sunnyside Association, along with Santa Claus, presented the families with gifts.

Said Jefferson, “It is just no better way to celebrate Christmas than to share with others. It has truly been an experience.”

But for Sgt. Johnson, reaching out comes second nature to her. She also does outreach on the Navajo, Hopi, Supai, and Hualapai reservations.

Even volunteers enjoyed all the festivities. For volunteer Jane Brown, it was such an extra bonus to be out there and seeing all the smiles on the kids faces. It was all well worth it, she said.

The Sunnyside Weed and Seed Association and the Sunnyside Neighborhood association would like to continue the tradition. “We would definitely like to do this every year, said Sgt. Johnson. “So this year has been the start of something good.”

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and the Sunnyside Weed and Seed Association would like to give special thanks to: United Way, Arizona Army National Guard Drug Demand Reduction, The Flagstaff Police, Affordable Housing Coalition, Mobile Haven Block Watch, The Flagstaff Fire Department and all the numerous other contributors.