Every year, the incarcerated people that work on the fire crews out of CAL FIRE’s Alder Camp in the Humboldt-Del Norte Unit, work as elves for Santa’s Workshop. They build various toys, doll houses, cars, boats, planes, toy toolboxes, guitars, and rocking horses for the underprivileged children of Del Norte County.
This year alone they built 370 toys for the drive. This program is an opportunity for them to give back to the community and local children.
Alder Camp has always been involved with projects ranging from fuels reduction, trail maintenance, road cleanup and disaster response, but building the toys has a greater impact on the offenders because they are helping provide gifts for children during the holiday season.
These toys may be the only gifts these children receive this holiday, and the offenders are honored to provide these handmade treasures to the local children. CAL FIRE Alder Camp, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and other cooperators work tirelessly to be part of Santa’s Workshop. CAL TRANS, State Parks, National Parks, and Del Norte Tribal Nations donate the locally sourced wood and other materials used to make these toys. This program is an example of the community coming together during the holiday season for a shared purpose and goal, to provide gifts for the underprivileged children of the county.