58th
Annual Children’s Shopping Tour
Saturday December 12, 2009
Since 1951, the Children’s Shopping Tour
has been the Salinas Jaycees’ marquee community service event. For
almost sixty years, our sponsors and volunteers have contributed an
estimated one million dollars and countless hours to support this
heartwarming Salinas tradition: to help buy needed clothes for local
schoolchildren.
The Salinas Jaycees started the Children’s Shopping Tour with the goal
of making a difference in the lives of underprivileged children in
Salinas. In 1951, twenty children were chaperoned to stores where they
picked the clothes and shoes they wanted, but could not afford before
the Shopping Tour. Since then we’ve worked hard year after year to
develop our fundraising and event management so that we could take
additional children shopping and give more to each participating child.
Last year, over four hundred children were taken shopping for
much-needed new clothing and shoes.
The Children’s Shopping Tour has become a treasured event in the Salinas
community. Many Shopping Tour recipients have told us how important and
meaningful the event was for them as children, and for many the
experience was powerful enough that as adults they wanted to help
continue the event that offers so much charity to those who need it.
This impact is why hundreds of Jaycees and other volunteers return year
after year to offer that same gift again and again to their community.
The Salinas Jaycees Foundation
In 1986, the Jaycees formed a foundation to secure grants that would
enable them to raise more funds and sponsor more children. As
fundraising efforts developed and additional money was raised, more and
more children were sponsored with additional funds to purchase more
clothing for each child. To enhance the child selection process, the
Jaycees partnered with local schools and teachers to identify the
children with the greatest need and sponsor them for the Shopping Tour.
The Salinas Jaycees
have been developing the Children’s Shopping Tour since its start. Every
year they work hard at raising the funds needed to make a successful
Shopping Tour, and this year we are striving for the event to be bigger
than ever before!
The Salinas Jaycees 2009 Children’s
Shopping Tour Goals
Raise over $56,000, to provide $125
each for 450 local underprivileged children to buy clothes
Recruit 350-400 community volunteers
as chaperones
How funds are raised within the
Community
Community grants (our thanks go to
perennial givers, The Harden Foundation and The Packard Foundation)
Donations from the community and local
businesses
Salinas Jaycee Fundraising events
throughout the year including working at the Salinas Rodeo, the
Monterey County Fair, a Fireworks booth, and much more.
Please note: The Jaycees raise
independent funds to pay for the administrative costs of the Children’s
Shopping Tour so that every dollar you donate goes directly to paying
for clothes for the kids!
Community Impact
The Salinas Jaycees Children Shopping Tour has a great and lasting
impact on our community. The impact this single event can have on a
child can’t be understated. Here is a quick story from one of last
year’s volunteers Tiffany Zachmeier of Bay Federal Credit Union.
“I was a bit unprepared for what I was about to experience. I was
stunned to see the literally hundreds of children waiting
patiently in the cold – many without so much as a sweatshirt to fight
off the chill – that were truly in need of basic necessities.
Stunned escalated to shock when Paul Farmer, the president of the
Salinas Jaycees, explained that 425 children (all under the age
of 13) had registered for the Children’s Shopping Tour through local
schools
Before I
had time to grasp what Paul had told me, I was assigned to my shopping
buddies, Melissa (8) and Jaqueline (10). We rushed inside to the warmth
of the Mall. Our first stop was J.C. Penny’s where we spent well beyond
our $115-per-child budget to buy boots, socks, underwear, fuzzy jackets,
jeans with sparkly pockets and rhinestone belts, sequined sweaters, warm
glittery tops, and more. There was no shortage of bling in the huge bags
I hauled out of the store 2 hours later. I was completely worked – and
the girls were thrilled!.
The 70% discounts offered by the stores helped a lot but you may be
wondering just how I managed to buy so much with such a modest budget.
Simple – I didn’t. I was so moved by these young girls who had so
little – neither had a winter jacket and Jaqueline didn’t even own a
pair of socks. So
I did what nearly everyone else was doing: I spoiled them rotten,
spent the $115 for each, and paid for the rest. I was exhausted
from running after my little girls and hauling heavy bags of clothing
but I felt fantastic when I saw their excitement – and deep empathy for
their mothers who were grateful beyond words. Giving happiness to
Melissa and Jaqueline was the best Christmas gift I could have hoped
for.
We believe the world changes one person at a time, through the impact of
a thousand tiny actions. By helping to support the Salinas Jaycees
Children’s Shopping Tour, you can create your own ripple effect on the
life of a local child.
Won’t you please
help us in continuing this incredible gift to the local schoolchildren
who desperately need it?
Part of what makes the Children’s
Shopping Tour such a powerful service event in Salinas is that
volunteers from all parts of the city come early on a Saturday morning
to help shop with underprivileged children so they can have new clothes
for the year.
How You Can Help
• Individually sponsor a child for
$125.00 or partner with others.
• Volunteer to take a child shopping with funds raised.
Donating to This Year’s Children’s
Shopping Tour
Every dollar of your tax-deductible donation of any amount goes directly
to the children. Our organization is run 100% by volunteers and all
supplies are paid for from our general fund. In addition, we negotiate
substantial discounts from merchants in order to stretch your donated
dollars even further.
If you’d like to DONATE
ONLINE, please click the link to donate using a credit card.
If you would like to mail your donation to us directly, please make your
check payable to:
Salinas Jaycees Foundation
Attn: Children’s Shopping Tour
P.O. Box 1048,
Salinas, CA 93902
Volunteering at the Shopping Tour
If you would like to volunteer to chaperone a child during the shopping
the tour, you may contact us by:
• leaving a voicemail message for us at 755-1000,
• mailing a letter to P.O. Box 1048 Salinas, CA 93902, or
• sending us a message to the CST Executive Committee via email
Before I
had time to grasp what Paul had told me, I was assigned to my shopping
buddies, Melissa (8) and Jaqueline (10). We rushed inside to the warmth
of the Mall. Our first stop was J.C. Penny’s where we spent well beyond
our $115-per-child budget to buy boots, socks, underwear, fuzzy jackets,
jeans with sparkly pockets and rhinestone belts, sequined sweaters, warm
glittery tops, and more. There was no shortage of bling in the huge bags
I hauled out of the store 2 hours later. I was completely worked – and
the girls were thrilled!. 
So
I did what nearly everyone else was doing: I spoiled them rotten,
spent the $115 for each, and paid for the rest. I was exhausted
from running after my little girls and hauling heavy bags of clothing
but I felt fantastic when I saw their excitement – and deep empathy for
their mothers who were grateful beyond words. Giving happiness to
Melissa and Jaqueline was the best Christmas gift I could have hoped
for. 
