Even during a global pandemic, Charlene Gutierrez and her team of volunteers are determined to pay it forward.
For the ninth consecutive year, they will collect new, unwrapped toys to distribute to children in foster care and at-risk youth during the holidays. This year they hope to boost toy collections with the William G. Valenzuela Pay It Forward Toy Run on Saturday, Dec. 5.
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“We have always done a Christmas party in honor of my uncle, William Valenzuela, and this year we decided to add the toy parade. He was a businessman who was very involved in the community. He was Man of the Year for the Tucson Hispanic and Tucson Metropolitan Chambers of Commerce and was very involved with the military, and he was Father of the Year and received many philanthropic awards. He grew up very poor in Tucson and felt it was the right thing to always pay it forward because of his success. We try to honor that,” said Gutierrez.
Last year, the event collected more than 3,300 toys and food baskets for children in foster care and students from Amphitheater School District and Tucson Unified School District, where Gutierrez worked for 40 years.
“The schools help us to identify at-risk kids, and with this being the year of the pandemic, we know so many more families are going to need us,” Gutierrez said.
She credits the community — including sponsorship from Tucson Electric Power and Bubba’s Motorcycle Shop — for helping to make the parade possible, and lon-time supporters such as Joshua Verdugo with MPG Tire & Automotive and Charlie Hernandez from Pat’s Chili Dogs for their ongoing generosity over the years.
Miracle en el Barrio, presented by NOVA Home Loans, celebrated its 17th year of providing holiday cheer to children and families in Tucson.
