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| CA4WDC 4-Wheelers Unite in the Spirit of the Holiday Season | Short Cuts | ||||
| Author: Jim Brink - February 2000 |
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For the 15th year in a row, the West Coast 4 Wheel Drive Club has hosted the southern version of the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs (CA4WDC) Toys for Tots toy run. With the assistance of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, a total of 3,669 toys were collected. 1999's event brought together 16 local 4WD clubs from all over Southern California. In addtion, 18 independent organizations showed up along with 4 fully loaded Marine Corps vehicles. In all, over 350 people participated in the event.
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| Clubs from all over Southern California attended. |
With a group forming early in the morning of December 05, 1999, it was a good thing that the West Coast 4WD Club selected the parking lot of the Block at Orange for a rendezvous point. The Block at Orange is a good-sized mall (even by Southern California standards!) and this event encapsulated a good portion of the lot's south end. Registrants wandered the lot examining the various vehicles and chatting with old friends. A good number of vehicles from various manufacturers were represented and rigs varied from mildy modified to radically built.
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| An Early Bronco, hung by the chimney with care. |
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| Jeeps held the majority of vehicle marques represented. |
Once everyone was registered, vehicles were decorated much like Christmas trees are during this holiday. Much was at stake in the decoration of each vehicle as a judging for best decorated would be held later in the day.
Once the decorating was completed, a brief driver's meeting was held and the official "run" as it were began to form up. One by one, vehicles began to stream out of the parking lot and onto the public streets. What a sight it must have been to the weary locals. It's one thing to see a well-built trail rig roaming the streets of Southern California but to see an entire line of them, decorated with Christmas lights, tinsel, and the occasional tree-top angel -- the poor residents of Orange no doubt wondered which planet this strange mob originated from. All in the spirit of the season though, right?
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| Could Santa be a 4Wheeler in his off-time? |
From the mall, the group caravanned through a handful of Orange County communities. Although the total distance travelled was around 10 miles, due to the slow speeds and number of rigs in the group, the entire trip took over an hour. Santa's sleigh for this jaunt was an USMC Humvee. Santa rode atop the mounts for the .50 cal gun mount... Ride'em Santa!
As the group arrived and got settled at the Santa Ana River Lakes, the toys were turned over to Santa and the Marines and the raffle was set to commence. First, a raffle just for the kids took place and then the big kids had their shot at the goods. Several prizes were donated from local vendors, too many for me to list here. |
| An impressive pile o' holiday cheer! |
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| The kids had a raffle of their own! |
Here is a brief sampling of some of the raffle prizes:
...as I mentioned before, just to name a "few."
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| Chris Wood of ARB-USA made the trip down from Seattle. |
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| The anxious crowd listens for raffle numbers to be called... Who gets the winch? Who gets the welder? |
As the raffle took place, the Marines closely scrutinized all of the decorated vehicles to judge the best decorated vehicles. Also at stake was a prize for best club participation, as well as best club decoration.
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| Steve Gardiner of WC4WDC accepts his plaque. |
The respective winners are listed below:
The day was a great success. It's great seeing clubs from all over the region participating in such an event, donating toys and time for a great cause. Some of the clubs present were:
Another notable success is educating the public by showing active enthusiasts in our sport working to help the community. All too often the perception of our hobby is negative. The CA4WDC Toys for Tots run just reaffirms that we too are pro-active in community preservation and betterment exercises. This event was in Southern California, but a similar run took place in Northern California. CLICK HERE to see the coverage of the sister event in the Sacramento area.
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