 L-R: Gary Craig, Sandro Schiavi and Lori Wright There have been many toy gatherings and giveaways in the valley. It’s impossible for us to cover them all, but this story can serve as just one example of the generosity of valley citizens. Gary Craig, owner of the Sportsman’s Inn in Kernville, started showing the Christmas spirit in a small way three years ago. “I put a can in my business to collect toys” for Darlene Randall’s annual effort to provide toys for those who might have a brighter Christmas. “We filled it six times,” he said. This year he had the idea to start a golf tournament with everything raised to go to the Christmas effort.“The bucket wasn’t getting filled to my satisfaction,” he said. They amassed 32 players, and after everything was said and done they raised $927 – and that’s not counting the toys collected. Craig said that the money comes in handy buying toys for the kids usually left out– the 15 and 16-year-olds. “Nobody thinks about them,” he said. Craig is humble about his effort – “I didn’t do this to get my name in the newspaper”– but it is efforts like his by mostly anonymous Kern Valley residents that have made the Christmas season brighter for other people. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
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