Santa joins Save Mart to take toys, food, clothing to Modesto mission

Santa skipped his sleigh for a shopping cart Friday, riding Save Mart’s Big Red oversize motorized vehicle to Modesto Gospel Mission.

Mr. Claus and a few elves led a four-block procession of hundreds of Save Mart and FoodMaxx employees who pushed shopping carts or drove delivery vans to take food, toys, gifts, sleeping bags, clothing and more to the Yosemite Boulevard mission.

It was the culmination of Save Mart Supermarkets’ sixth annual Giving Tree campaign, a friendly competition among company departments.

James Sims, chief information officer for The Save Mart Companies, provided some specifics on what Friday’s donation comprised. Among the delivery were 60 shopping carts full of food, gifts for 151 children, 108 boxes of clothing, 78 boxes of gifts, 20 sleeping bags, racks of fresh bread and tortillas, 25 cases of hams, gift cards and a cash donation for the mission.

The food was enough to last the mission beyond the holidays and well into the first quarter, when donations in general tend to drop off, Sims said.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Santa joins Save Mart to take toys, food, clothing to Modesto mission."