Carson City Holiday with a Hero starts fundraising

The Carson City law enforcement and school district have started collecting donations for their 2015 Holiday with a Hero event.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday morning it will be starting donation collection for its annual event. This is the 11th Holiday for a Hero, an event in which local public safety officers take children from the Carson City School District shopping to buy presents for the holidays. It will happen Wednesday, Dec. 16.

“It is a good opportunity for kids in the community to meet different people and learn about what adults do for a living,” said Deputy Jessica Dickey. “It gives them a new perspective.”

Organizers are hoping to be able to provide each child with a $100 Walmart gift card to shop with and then volunteers wrap the presents for the students so they can have something to open during the holidays.

“This is one on one contact that we can provide for the kids so that there is one day to open up dialogue with them to realize we are normal people in the community too,” said Sgt. Daniel Gonzales.

Last year, the event had almost 200 students attend. This year nearly 400 students from pre-k to 12th grade are expected at the event so far, said Peggy Sweetland, director of the Carson City School District’s McKinney-Vento Students In Transition program. The students are chosen from the Children in Transition program, which help offer free and reduced school lunches to Carson City students.

At the event, students will be provided lunch at Carson High School from local businesses, and then will be bussed to and from the Walmart where they will spend the day shopping and spending time with various public safety officers. There are expected to be more than 200 adults from organizations all over Carson City and neighboring counties like the Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Highway Patrol, the Fire Department, and Parole and Probation. Santa is even expected to make an appearance, arriving via a CareFlight helicopter.

“That is the great thing about this event, is the collaboration,” Gonzales said. “It is not just one agency. We couldn’t do this alone.”

In order to make this event happen, the organizers are looking for donations from the community to help make this event happen.

“Without community support, we can’t have this event,” said Gonzales.

To donate, anyone can drop off money to the Sheriff’s Office, one of the schools, at Sweetland’s office, located at 618 W. Musser Street or at Bank of the West. All checks should be made out to Holiday with a Hero. It’s also a non-profit 501(c) organization, so donations can be tax deductible.

The organizers are also taking non-monetary donations and are also looking for wrapping paper, bows, bags, and other holiday items for this event, which can be dropped off at the Sheriff’s Office.

For any questions or concerns, contact Sgt. Daniel Gonzales at 775-283-7888 or dgonzales@carson.org.