Samaritan House gives away 4,000 toys to San Mateo families

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Volunteers brought the Christmas spirit to San Mateo County Saturday morning; thousands of toys went home with thousands of kids.

The effort was put on by Samaritan House, a local non-profit aiming to help underprivileged kids on the Peninsula.

"This is my passion, my joy," said Laura Bent, CEO of Samaritan House. "This is the mission of the organziation."

Every year, the organization plays "Santa" for kids - they donate thousands of toys to families who may not have the opportunity to buy Christmas presents for kids. 

Since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the toy giveaway was in the form of a car drive-thru. For the first time in four years, volunteers brought the event back inside the San Mateo County Events Center, where parents and kids could roam free.

"This is the meaning of the holidays," said Jenny Kanoph, the volunteer director for Samaritan House. 

Kids and their families picked the toys they wanted and eventually became the gifts under the Christmas tree. Jackson Ramirez, and 8-year old in San Mateo, picked out a toy shark.

"It has wheels and a remote control," he said.

Samaritan House representatives say they've seen a 30% increase in need since the pandemic, while seeing a decrease in funding.

"We've had over 200 organizations, community based, faith based, schools, children doing drives in their schools, getting all of this together," said Bent.

The effort was appreciated by the families who say Christmas would look much different without it. 

"Christmas at home would look like me trying to come up with some things," said Nashira Wilson, a mother of six in San Mateo.

"I've been looking on Facebook, looking at other people with the games they play at home with cups or things you can get from the Dollar Tree."