Toy drive brings Bautista back to childhood

Eloise GrahamStaff WriterSpanish teacher and La Sociedad adviser Claudia Bautista knows what it's like to not have toys during the holidays. To give back, Bautista and the La Sociedad club are holding their annual toy drive to provide elementary school kids in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District with holiday toys.“I suppose it had something to do with my own history. I was raised Catholic and I’m originally from El Salvador and we were very poor. We didn’t have toys for the holidays,” Baustista said. “It’s all about random acts of kindness; not caring that you’re putting a little bit of your money in it and hoping that some day those kids will do it for someone else.”Bautista usually ends up sponsoring around 10 kids by herself. When she was younger, she was a recipient of a random act of kindness similar to the spirit of the toy drive.“When I was in high school I lived on my own with my three sisters. One year on Thanksgiving, out of nowhere, these three ladies appeared at our front door. We had no idea how they got there and they brought a turkey and a bag filled with groceries. It was the most unbelievable thing because we weren’t even going to celebrate Thanksgiving that year. I still have no idea where they came from, and when we asked they said don’t worry about it.”According to Bautista, some schools accept the gifts from La Sociedad and the parents and families give the gifts themselves; in other cases, members of La Sociedad give the gifts to the children. In the past, Will Rogers, Edison and McKinley elementary schools have had La Sociedad distribute the gifts to the children.Before La Sociedad distributes the gifts, teachers and other faculty of the school will talk to the kids receiving the presents.“[The schools] usually tell them that they’re going to get a special toy because they’ve been good kids. The kids from La Sociedad hand them the toys. Some of the kids don’t know that we get their wish list and they get so surprised. It’s touching, you want to cry every time. It’s really emotionally rewarding,” Bautista said.The students in La Sociadad agree."It feels really good it's a really gratifying feeling," junior La Sociedad president Paola Perdomo said, "You see them walk in with a very puzzled face, and they have no idea what's going to happen."Although La Sociedad’s toy drive is made available to all schools in the district, they do not end up sponsoring everyone.“We sponsor the schools that have the liasons reply back to us. Will Rogers, Edison and Grant are the quickest to respond, but John Muir and McKinley also [reply]. The economy being as bad as it is, the need has definitely gotten more,” Bautista said.Due to the economic crisis, the complications have come up with the toy drive.“Last year with the donations that we got from teachers I bought gift cards to supermarkets and stores like Target. This year, though, I have had to use that money to buy gifts,” Bautista said.According to Bautista, she revels in giving back.“My birthday is Dec. 15, and it turns out every year that I’m either wrapping presents or I’m delivering presents on my birthday. It is the greatest gift to myself every year; I don’t know how to explain it. There are no words to give to someone that doesn’t have anything or has less than you. You just hope that when they grow up, this is something that they will do for other people,” Bautista said.egraham@thesamohi.com