This Christmas, 300 American Canyon kids got toys for free
“All my daughter wanted was a baby doll,” said Rhonda Zuniga. “I told Sherry: ‘I’m struggling. All my daughter wants is a doll.” It was 2004, and the family had just moved to American Canyon.
“Sherry took time and purchased a brand-new doll. My daughter would carry it around the house with her.” Zuniga’s daughter is now 23, and recently graduated college. To this day, she has the life-sized American Girl doll given to her more than 20 years ago.
Zuniga is part of the band of volunteers that has run the annual Toys for Tots donation drive in American Canyon for the past 13 years, an effort spearheaded by local resource maven Sherry Tennyson and Max Etchieson, a captain with the American Canyon Fire Department.
On an overcast Saturday, Dec. 20, cars lined up for distribution day outside the Fire Protection District building on James Road, filled with families eager to receive their gifts. Tennyson was joined by a team of volunteers, Zuniga, Glynis Banks, Lissette Hernandez, Neil Nodado and sisters Maria and Jocelyn DeHaro, who spent the better part of the week packing up hundreds of toys into bags for families with kids 0-12 years old. They started at 10 a.m. and went till 4 p.m. without a break. The kids’ excitement kept the group going.
“The kids come, and they see the bags and they say, ‘All this is for me?’ They get so excited,” said volunteer Glynis Banks, who came from Fairfield to help out with the toy drive that week.
“Our goal is to make sure families don’t need to feel pressure about getting toys for their children,” said Tennyson. “It’s a hard time for families. Employers aren’t hiring. We are a community that counts on certain jobs. Folks work in the fields and at hotels.”
As a career consultant at Napa Valley College, she’s seen the difficulties people navigate between jobs. Agriculture and hospitality industries are the biggest sources of jobs in Napa. But this year saw the highest unemployment in Napa County since the pandemic, at 4.9%. And, while employment will pick up around March, in winter, it’s a hard labor market for seasonal workers.
People in need tend to shy from programs that have income limits and verification requirements, said Tennyson. But she’s proud to say that American Canyon’s Toys for Tots chapter has no such rule.
“As long as you live here in American Canyon, we’re not gonna turn you away,” said Tennyson, who emphasized the importance of accepting all applicants. “I don’t care how much that family makes,” she said. “I don’t care! It’s about: Every child deserves a toy.”
Zuniga agreed. At another donation drive, Zuniga saw one family drive up in a Tesla. While some judged, she explained that “you don’t know their situation. They could’ve had a great job two months ago and lost that job. If they lose their home, they’re most likely gonna be sleeping in that car.”
Zuniga grew up in foster care, so she’s familiar with navigating difficult times. “I know what it’s like to struggle — being 18, having to put the little bit of clothes I have in a garbage bag and be dismissed. Being able to help other people not feel the way I would be feeling is very rewarding.”
Toys For Tots applications typically ask kids to list what they want for Christmas. Usually, it’s a bit out of reach, like bikes and iPads. But the most popular items stay the same each year: Legos, Barbies, Marvel toys. This year, one child wrote: “I just want my mom to get better.” Another wrote: “I just want to have a good Christmas.”
“We threw in a couple extra Barbies,” said Zuniga, organizing the stack of papers from families who’d come to pick up gifts. “Never judge.”
