Last year, Santa Claus gifted Annabelle and Abigale with a stuffed kitty and puppy. (File photo by Douglas W. Motley)

Feast for Families slated for Dec. 22

By DOUGLAS W. MOTLEY
Senior Writer

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will once again join forces with the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Arrowhead office at the sheriff’s Twin Peaks Station for their annual Feast for Families.
The feast will take place on Thursday, Dec. 22. Dozens of families who can’t afford a traditional Christmas dinner can pick up a turkey dinner, complete with all the usual trimmings. Not only that, their children will be able to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.
Joining forces with the Sheriff’s Department and CHP, for the first time, will be the Lake Gregory Yacht Club, whose members have pledged to collect toys to be distributed to children attending the Feast for Families event. Sheriff’s and CHP officials are hoping local citizens will come forward and donate new toys, which must be in unopened packaging. The toys can be left in a drop-off box inside the lobby of the sheriff’s Twin Peaks station during regular business hours on Monday through Friday, prior to Thursday, Dec. 22.
According to Capt. Don Lupear, commander of the Twin Peaks station, this yearly event has been ongoing for approximately 10 years, with the exception of 2020 when it was canceled due to COVID restrictions. However, deputies were still able to deliver the turkey dinners and toys to about 25 deserving families.
The station’s assistant commander, Lt. Craig Harris, said 12 families showed up at the station last year to pick up their meals, while four more meals were delivered to the homes of families who had no way to get to the station.
Partnering with the sheriff’s department again this year is the Arrowhead Area office of the CHP, which, once again this year, is sponsoring the agency’s annual CHiPs for Kids toy drive. A CHP spokesperson told The Alpine Mountaineer that toys, in appropriately wrapped packages, may be dropped off at the CHP office on Highway 18 in Running Springs.