SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - Santa’s workshop isn’t the only place churning out toys for kids this time of year. The Sacramento Sheriff’s Toy Project has been helping to build and deliver toys to children in Sacramento County since 1984, all while providing important hands-on job skills and education to inmates from Sacramento County’s correctional facilities. 

The Sacramento Sheriff's Toy Project functions as the charitable arm of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department. Participants of the Sheriff’s Work Project spend their court-ordered jail sentence making toys and furniture, sewing and embroidery work and learning bicycle repair on donated bicycles.

“Even though we’re called the Sacramento Sheriff’s Toy Project, we’re not all about toys; that’s just how it started,” said Chief Deputy LeeAnneDra Marchese, who serves as the President of the Sheriff’s Toy Project. “Sheriff’s Toy Project is a year-round program supporting the less fortunate children and families in the Sacramento area. 

“We support area schools with after-school programs, school supplies, computers, clothing, shoes, jackets, bikes for transportation, summer kid’s camps and support scholarships for college-bound students."

The Sheriff’s Toy Project donates to more than 7,500 children and families during the holiday season. In addition to their annual holiday toy and food give-away, the Sheriff’s Toy Project helps fund the Santa Claus Project where Sheriff’s Deputies distribute stockings and gifts each Christmas Eve to individuals experiencing homelessness and to children in area hospitals. 

Toy Project also provides emergency relief and special request items throughout the year for families in crisis, like those who have lost their homes to fire or other disasters. 

According to Chief Deputy Marchese, “The participants in the Sheriff’s Toy Project oftentimes find the experience so fulfilling that they come back to volunteer, even after they’ve been released.” 

To learn more about the Toy Project, visit toyproject.org/.