Los Banos Rotary Club History
Toys, Foodstuffs For Christmas

Christmas has been made a lot happier for some 75 boys and girls in this community as the result of a lot of unselfish planning, hard work and close cooperation by several local individuals and organizations.

The Rotary and Lions Clubs started the ball rolling when the members of the two groups each bough a toy or other gift for Santa's pack. The Teen Age Canteen members caught the spirit and added $40 cash.

Then W. H. Sloan, chairman of the local Red Cross Chapter, entered the picture in the role of Santa's helper. What at first appeared to be a simple job of delivering gifts became a real job of careful planning, learning of families where Santa might be tempted to pause only momentarily, if at all, finding out how many and just what gifts to leave of each stop, and being careful not to divulge Santa's confidence by letting anyone know just where Santa was to stop and how big a load he was to leave.

Sloan called upon and received a lot of help from Miss Elizabeth DeFerrari, Mrs. James Negra and several other local ladies. With all helping the job has been completed in a first class manner. Santa's gift pack will be well loaded and his route carefully selected when the old man with the white whiskers arrives from the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

Sloan states that everything possible has been done to insure that no child in the community will be missed. However, there is always such a possibility and he asks that if anyone knows of an additional point of call for Santa to please contact him as early as possible today.

December 24, 1948

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