The Holiday with a Hero committee is sponsoring a Holiday Crawl — a festive pub crawl through downtown bars — to raise money for the annual shopping spree for children who classify as homeless in Carson City.
“Because of funding we’ve had to cut back on the number of kids we’ve served in the past few years,” said Carson City Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Gonzales, who serves on the committee. “We’re trying to get more kids served.”
Gonzales was a founding member of the program 11 years ago in which children are paired with a cop, firefighter, military personnel or other volunteer to spend $100 on Christmas gifts at Walmart for themselves and their families.
He said the first year 55 students qualified for the program. Over the years, it has grown to nearly 300 children in the Carson City School District’s McKinney-Vento Students in Transition program.
Children who qualify for the program live in motels, cars, campgrounds, with grandparents or double up with other families.
“If it wasn’t for Holiday with a Hero, these kids would not have a Christmas,” said Peggy Sweetland, director of Students in Transition.
As the number of students who qualify for the program increases, Gonzales said, the range being served has decreased.
“We started with all kids, K-12,” he said. “Then we went to K-8. Now, we serve kids in the first through fifth grades.”
That comes out to 187 kids so far this year, Sweetland said.
The crawl will be 6 p.m.-midnight Dec. 5 in downtown Carson City. The square of streets from Proctor to Plaza and Telegraph to Curry will be closed with bands performing on each corner.
Booths will be available for businesses outside that perimeter that would still like to participate.
Tickets will be $20. Participants will receive a cup and wristband. The first drink will be free, then discounted drinks and food will be available at participating bars and restaurants.
Gonzales is hoping to raise at least $20,000 through the Holiday Crawl for the Dec. 16 shopping spree, with any excess going back to the Students in Transition program to buy gifts for the older children.
“That would take care of everything,” Gonzales said.
Tickets will be sold during the Nevada Day parade Saturday on the east corner of Robinson and Carson streets. They also will be available at the Carson City Visitors Bureau, 716 N. Carson St., or online at visitcarsoncity.com.
