COURTESY PHOTOS
Members of several area car and truck clubs recently handed out more than 500 Christmas toys to children living in migrant camps in Wimauma. More than 70 vehicles were included in the caravan.
Area car, truck clubs form caravan to deliver Christmas toys to migrant kids
By LOIS KINDLE
Members of Con Estilo Truck Club, La Familia Auto Club, Team Truckaholics, Shut ’Em Down Truckin’ and Stunnin’ Truck Club recently got together to make Christmas possible for the children of migrant farmworkers. Their 2020 Toy Drive Cruise caravanned to Wimauma and cruised through neighborhoods to four different camps, where they handed out well over 500 donated toys. The gifts were all donated by club members, area businesses, including The Chamoy Shop, Zuniga Marketing and Wahoo Pools Group.
“There were 70-plus cars and trucks in the caravan,” said South Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce Honorary Mayor Joe Zuniga, who helped coordinate the effort with its main organizer, Paster Avela, of the Con Estilo Truck Club to spread the word about the event and find sponsors. “It was a nice little show for the community. The kids in the camps loved it. They came out to watch the show, and then club members started handing out toys. It was a total surprise.”
“I grew up in the camps myself when I was a kid and so did many members of other clubs,” Avela said. “It meant the world to me to receive a gift.”
Avela said he hopes the event will take place again next year under possibly a different format to accommodate the large number of trucks that turned out for this inaugural effort.
