1937 Ford Firetruck leads Unity Shoppe Toy Drive
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Cars and Coffee crowd held their annual Unity Shoppe Toy Drive Sunday morning. They met at Montecito's upper village to talk about classic cars, bring new unwrapped toys for the kids and many made cash donations to the Unity Shoppe. The toys were loaded up on a 1937 Ford fire truck and then everyone joined in the toy run to deliver the shipment to Unity headquarters on Chapala Street.
Dana Newquist owns the fire truck and organizes the toy run every year as part of the Unity Telethon which aired on NewsChannel Three from 4:30 to 8:30 Saturday night.
"Especially this year. They're in so much need because of the pandemic. There are so many people out of work. We need the food, we need the cash, we need the toys for the kids. And so that's true of every year, it doesn't have to be a pandemic," said Newquist as he collected toys.
Once all of the toys were secured on the old firetruck, a caravan of classic cars drove through Montecito, along Cabrillo Boulevard into Santa Barbara's East Beach area, up State Street where they made a left turn and then a right onto Chapala to the Unity Shoppe. Along the way, people waved, honked their horns and gave thumbs up.
Unity workers greeted the caravan and everyone helped unload the fire truck and carry the toys inside. A huge thank you to everyone who participated to make the Unity Telethon and the Toy Drive a success this year despite these challenging times.
