Wheatland Toy Drive and Food Collection resumes 

By Lisa Phelps 

lphelps@pcrecordtimes.com 

WHEATLAND — The rumble of motorcycles paraded Saturday around Wheatland in an inaugural “toy run.” It has been several years since there was a ‘run in Wheatland, as Pete and Denise Delgado and their crew of helpers organized the event for 35 years previously. 

“It is a lot of hard work that people don’t see,” the Delgado’s explained. When they began doing a toy run all those years ago, there wasn’t anyone else doing anything like it in the town. After a while there were other groups working to help gather toys and food to help during the holidays, and after over three decades they decided to hang up the Santa hat. 

That was a while ago. This year’s organizers Tim Simpson and Louise Anderson desired to do a toy drive – thinking there was something they could do to help families in need in this community. They enjoyed previous events, but realized if there was going to be one, someone would have to step up to the plate. It may as well be them. 

“We started two months ago planning this,” Anderson said, adding that almost every business in the town donated door prizes for the cause. “The donations [and support] from the businesses has been amazing.” 

The inaugural 2023 Wheatland Toy Drive and Food Collection included a poker run with cooperation from several businesses in town (won by Trent Graves with Queens and Jakes), a chili contest (won by Tim Simpson with his green chili), 50/50 raffle, silent auction and door prize raffles, in addition to the traditional parade around the town led by Santa and his helpers. Some people just donated outright, others donated back their winnings, and the DJ gave a discount for his services and is giving what was charged to Wreaths Across America. 

“It’s a good cause,” commented Steve Bashor, after paying for his last card in the poker run. 

One hundred percent of the toys, non-perishable food, and money donated or raised will go to needy families. The money will be converted to grocery store gift cards for perishable items and to make sure there were enough toys to gift the needy families. 

“We’ve gotta give back to the kids,” Simpson said. “It’s all about them.” 

“If we can help three or four families, it would be worth it, but we want to help as many families as we can,” Anderson said. “It’s giving back to the community – that’s what it is all about.” 

Anderson added that while they have some people already that they are helping, if anyone knows of a family that may honestly need extra help for the holidays, call her (331-1325) or Simpson (331-1325) and they will see if they can add them to their list this year.