That’s a wrap: Santa’s Posse preps gifts for children

The Clark County Event Center turned into a kind of Christmas factory on Thursday evening. Toys of all kinds were piled high on the floor — everything from board games and balls to Barbie dolls and bikes. People gathered around tables swiftly wrapping gifts, and an assembly line of volunteers boxed food for holiday meals.

It’s organized chaos. After 19 years, Santa’s Posse knows how to make the whole operation run smoothly. With enough people helping, it can all get done in about 90 minutes.

“It’s been amazing,” said Sheriff Garry Lucas. “There’s probably 450 people here.”

The number of volunteers grows every year, sometimes outpacing the number of jobs. Last year, volunteers were disappointed when they showed up on delivery day only to find out that there weren’t any gifts left to deliver.

Lucas and the Rotary Clubs of Clark County started Santa’s Posse to help bring Christmas to families in need. The first year, they served somewhere between 30 and 45 families. This year, they’re helping out 2,200 children among 750 families.

“We’ve got tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts,” said CCSO Sgt. Kevin Allais.

That includes 170 bikes and $18,000 worth of gift cards, all donations from the community.

Retired sisters Sally Tavares and Sue Vincent came out to help wrap gifts.

“We thought it would put us in the spirit,” Tavares said. “People bring their kids. It teaches them to help the community, too.”

After work Olya Bogush picked up her 6-year-old niece, Alina Kiselev, and brought her to wrap night. They diligently wrapped toys that Kiselev selected from a pile.

“There’s a lot more people than last year,” Bogush said. She heard about the event through work, and her grandmother donated some gift wrap.

Although the support grows beyond expectation each year, Lucas said, “There’s always more need than we can meet.”

The wrapped gifts were piled onto blue carts, and then wheeled away to be bagged and sorted by Zip code. On Sunday, they’ll be delivered to families.