SMART collects donations at sixth annual holiday toy drive in Santa Rosa

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit held its sixth annual toy drive Saturday at Historic Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, collecting games, dolls, action figures and other playthings for families in need of gifts this holiday season.

Like last year’s event, donors dropped off toys from their cars to stay COVID-safe. Volunteers and first responders in Santa hats and holiday attire directed traffic and collected donations while handing out candy and free SMART train tickets.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic came to town, we had to rethink how to do our toy drive,” said Matt Stevens a SMART spokesman at the event. “So we came up with the drive-thru drop-off model.”

To help gather contributions the past two years, SMART also partnered with nonprofits including the Salvation Army and Toys for Tots.

Lauren Oblad, Sonoma County coordinator for Toys for Tots, said her group last year collected nearly 50,000 toys for almost 13,000 children in the county.

But seeking donations this year has so far been more of a challenge. Fewer cars showed up to Saturday’s toy drive. And global supply chain issues meant just one shipment of toys was available from the Marine Toys for Tots foundation.

Oblad is counting on residents to drop of donations at local drop boxes, which can be found at the nonprofit’s website at: santa-rosa-ca.toysfortots.org.

“We’re hoping that the community will come together because we still have all of our (donation) boxes out, and usually the community is very generous,” Oblad said.

Donations will be distributed at sites throughout the county later this month. Families can sign up to receive toys and other gifts by writing an online letter to Santa at: secretsantanow.org. Donors can also sign up to “adopt” a letter by donating money through the Secret Santa website.

On Saturday, Jamie Miller and his wife Amy donated footballs, Barbie dolls, Legos and toy trucks to the effort. They participated in part to carry on the memory of Jamie’s dad, who donated to toy drives with his family most holiday seasons.

“My wife and I have been together for years, we don’t have kids of our own so this is kind of Christmas for us,” Miller said.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian