toys

Dozens of people attended Purist Group’s 11th annual Winter Toy Collection and Car Show held Sunday at the Industry Hills Expo Center.

The annual event brings together car enthusiasts and the local community to donate thousands of new toys to underprivileged children throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

According to The Drive, Sean Lee founded Purist Group 10 years ago and started as a Yahoo group of 30 to 40 people called Canyon Friends (Lee attributes his love of cars to the video game Gran Turismo).

It started as a group of enthusiasts who loved driving their cars in the canyons of Southern California and now the group focuses on supporting the community with toy donations, children’s backpacks, and other community events.

Kaylee Law has been volunteering with Purist Group for ten years and currently serves as the organization’s youth director.

For Law it is very important that young people participate because he says it is something that teaches them good values ​​and to collaborate with the community.

“It is very important to encourage young people to get involved in their communities and start helping, learning and connecting with each other. I think it’s great when cars can help tie all that together,” Law said.

According to Law, the toys are distributed to various organizations such as the Poseiden Foundation which creates positive outlets for youth through participation in alternative sports, Crime Survivors which provides hope and healing for victims and survivors of crime and also Thomas House that provides free housing, including food and supplies, for homeless families with children.

To enter the car show, attendees are asked to donate a new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more.

John Chávez approached the donation table and some volunteers grabbed the bag of toys he was carrying.

Chavez decided to buy basketballs and hoops because he says it is important for children to have something that keeps them physically active.

The event also attracted different vehicles, including prestigious vintage cars, lowriders, exotic vehicles and race cars, among others.

Richard Madlangbayan drove his 1973 Datsun 240Z a little over an hour from Ventura to the City of Industry to attend the event.

He has had his Datsun 240Z for nine years now, customized with a v8 engine, individual throttle bodies, different tires that are wider, and he says what he likes most is the timeless elegance of his car.

Since he was a child, Madlangbayan says he always liked cars and his Hot Wheels; Furthermore, he designed his ramps and obstacles from any type of thing he found.

This is the second time he has attended this event and he says it is important that people can donate toys for less fortunate children.

“It’s for a good cause and a lot of people show up in different types of cars. You have super sports vehicles, regular cars, hot rods, a little bit of everything for everyone,” Madlangbayan explained.

Kaden Wang, who volunteered for the first time, says he loved the experience because he liked seeing different types of cars and his favorite was a Porsche 911 GT3.

Wang added that he also liked seeing all the types of toys that arrived because he is in charge of keeping track of the total number of toys.

Last year, Purist Group raised more than 10,000 toys that were donated to local charities in the San Gabriel Valley, which distribute the toys to underprivileged children and families before the holidays.

This year, organizations such as Spyder and Nissan representatives from the city of Downey brought donations in carts filled with toys such as Legos, small electric cars, bowling toys and footballs.