Gift drop-off · · 9 a.m.–noon
Bancroft Middle School parking lot, San Leandro
Our drive will be slightly different this year with a HYPER-LOCAL focus. Every family on the list has a child in a San Leandro public school. Last year we helped 100 Alameda County children in foster care fulfill their holiday dreams. We’re looking forward to helping just as many children in need this year and they are all living right in our surrounding neighborhoods.
How to participate
It’s so easy!
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Choose a tag
Click here to select a tag for the child of your choice and add it to your cart (don’t worry, there’s no charge!). Complete checkout so we know which children’s lists are claimed.
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Shop the wish list
Purchase as many items as you can from the wish list. We encourage wrapping gifts this year. If you do, please wrap each gift separately and put a sticky note on the outside describing what’s inside.
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Drop off the gifts
Bring your items to the Bancroft Middle School parking lot in San Leandro on Sunday, December 6, 2026, between 9 a.m. and noon. We’ll have coffee and treats!
About the children
School staff identify families who could use some extra support and ask them to provide holiday wish lists for the children in their household.
Wish lists are reviewed and added to individual tags for each child. A community member can select a tag and buy as many items as they can from the wish list. The gifts are then taken to a warehouse, where community volunteers wrap any remaining unwrapped gifts and distribute them to the children.
Why should you care?
It’s hard for many of us to imagine, but there are children in our very own communities who celebrate Christmas, who believe in Santa, and who have still never received a Christmas present. In many ways, the world hasn’t shown up for these children.
A Christmas gift alone won’t change their trajectory, but it’s a small and beautiful symbol that someone is thinking of them and that wonderful surprises can be theirs. I can’t personally save every child, but I choose to give them this little piece of hope. I know these older kids will remember gifts like this for the rest of their lives, and I promise you it has an impact.
What’s up with the bikes?
Following the lead of Adopt-An-Angel, the organization I worked with last year, I’ve decided that when a child asks for a bicycle, we’ll say yes. Bikes represent freedom, transportation, exercise, time with friends, and FUN! Kids may not always have an adult to cart them everywhere, but a bike can get them places.
Yes, babies are super fun to shop for, but if you have the means, please consider selecting a child who has requested a bike for Christmas. Bikes truly can change lives in ways that a toy generally won’t. Don’t forget to include that helmet.
Photograph by Laura James / Pexels