South County Toy Shop makes Christmas wishes come true

Published 7:56 am Friday, February 29, 2008

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Thanks to the local giving community, 1,110 South Snohomish County children will have gifts on Christmas morning.

Pamela Garcia carefully selected gifts for her five children Dec. 17 in Mountlake Terrace.

Garcia needed to come to the South County Toy Shop this year she said because her husband was still in Mexico and so she and the children weren’t able to fund Christmas alone.

“I wouldn’t be able to give my kids anything this year if they didn’t have this,” Garcia said, adding tearfully, “This is really wonderful.”

Mary Kay Davis-Jurovcik, community affairs coordinator for Pathways for Women, said because of businesses such as Fred Meyer and State Farm Insurance and the Ladies of Harley group, this year’s Toy Shop was a success.

Volunteers took six truck loads of new toys to a Mountlake Terrace church where registered families were able to shop till they dropped. According to Davis-Jurovcik 409 families registered and shopped for 1,110 children in need.

“That was about 3,500 gifts given,” she said.

Dawn Bauer, who was at the Toy Shop shopping for her three daughters 13, 11 and 9 and her infant granddaughter said “On behalf of all of us who need this place — thank you!”

Bauer was thrilled to be able to have so many gift options for her daughters and granddaughter and was impressed by the variety.

Along with toys and books for the little ones and teens, children also were able to shop for their parents in a room put together just for them.

OJ Marston was 10 years old when she first started volunteering at the South County toy shop with her mother Christine. That was 25 years ago. It was at that time when OJ asked her mother why there weren’t any gifts for the parents. Christine Marston told her daughter parents didn’t need gifts. But OJ Marston had another thought.

OJ pleaded her case and told her mother that the kids want to be able to give their parents a gift as well. That’s when Christine decided to start the parent gift shop which is located within the big one-day toy shop.

This portion of the shop wasn’t going to happen this year until OJ Marston found out about it. Not only was it a way for her to keep her mother’s memory alive now that she is deceased, but also because she knew how important it was to the children.

Marston was able to round up some donations and money at the last minute and gathered up some adult presents.

“Some people might think these gifts aren’t that great,” Marston said, “but I say it’s not about what you, the adult, thinks, it’s how the children feel when they’re able to give something to someone they love.”