Thank You!

We would like to thank the parishioners of St. Isidore's Catholic Church
as well as the staff and parents of St. Isidore's School
for your overwhelming generosity to this year's Angel Tree.

Also, a very heartfelt thank you to the volunteers who helped
to organize and distribute the gifts before Christmas.
Gifts were provided to 312 children. There were 312 happy children's faces
when they received their packages!

Finally, an extra special thank you to
Casa Lupe Market in Gridley
for assembling and distributing the food baskets
for the 110 families who received baskets this year.

HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

Mission:

Operation Santa Claus started slowly, sometime in the 1970s. In 1984 we became affiliated (toys only) with the CAN* "Toys for Tots" program. In 2000 we became affiliated with the Red Cross after CAN discontinued the "Toys for Tots." Currently this year-round program is coordinated by the St. Isidore Food Locker. For more information please email .

On average, every Christmas we assist about 75 families with food baskets and gifts of bikes, toys and clothes for their children - between 150-200 children.

During Christmas 2007, we received many generous donations that helped us provide food to 110 families and Christmas gifts for 312 children.

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On or before the first Sunday of Advent, the Angel Tree is set up in the vestibule of the church. On the tree are stockings with information for each child - age, sizes and wishes. Parishioners are asked to take a stocking, purchase and wrap gifts, and return them to the parish office by a mid-December deadline. Parishioners, not wishing to shop, may make a cash donation and we will shop for the remaining stockings. The gifts are sorted by family and additional items are purchased as needed to be sure each child receives something. The gifts and food are distributed on a pre-arranged date to the families.

Bishop of Myra (Fourth Century) Feast day Dec. 6. The great veneration with which this saint has been honored for many ages and the number of altars and churches which have been everywhere dedicated in his memory are testimonials to his holiness and of the glory which he enjoys with God. St. Nicholas is venerated as the patron saint of several classes of people—especially in the East, of sailors, and in the West, of children. The former is probably due to the legend that during his lifetime, he appeared to storm-tossed mariners who invoked his aid off the coast of Lycia and brought them safely to port. His parents died when he was a young man, leaving him well off and he determined to devote his inheritance to works of charity, giving rise to his patronage of children and various observances, ecclesiastical and secular, connected therewith (especially in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands) and the giving of presents in his name at Christmas time. This custom in England is not a survival from Catholic times. It was popularized in America by the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam who had converted the popish saint into a Nordic magician (Santa Claus=Sint Klaes= Saint Nicholas) and was apparently introduced into this country by Bret Harte.