Fairmont Newsroom

Students Team Up With Harley Riding Santas for Ninth Annual Choc Toy Run

January 2008

ANAHEIM, CA - December 2, 2008 – On Friday, December 12, Fairmont Private Schools' Anaheim Hills, Citron, Edgewood, Mable, International and Preparatory Academy campuses will donate hundreds of holiday toys to motorcycle-riding Santas from the Orange Coast Harley Davison Owners Group (OCHOG). Lead by veteran Fairmont staff member, Judy Coderre, approximately 50 bikers will parade into each of Fairmont's campuses to show their appreciation and accept Fairmont's donations for the children of CHOC hospital.

Throughout the morning of December 12, students and staff will greet the motorcycle entourage and hand over boxes of unwrapped toys destined for the Christmas stockings of Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) patients. This is the ninth year that Fairmont has partnered with the local HOG chapter to provide gifts for children currently hospitalized and for those who will be admitted at CHOC during the upcoming year. Approximate arrival times for Toy Drive bikers on Friday, December 12: Preparatory Academy (7th-12th grades) 8:00-8:30 a.m.

Mable Campus (1st-6th grades) 8:45-9:15 a.m. & Fairmont International

Citron Campus (Preschool-Kindergarten) 9:30-10:15 a.m. *Special Christmas carol reception

Anaheim Hills Campus (Preschool-8th grades) 10:45-11:15 a.m.

Edgewood Campus (PreK-8th grades) 11:40 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

"The CHOC Toy Run has become a tradition at Fairmont that we're all proud of," says Judy Coderre, a 30-year Fairmont employee who suggested that her Harley group start the school Toy Run as a way to involve students in helping other children in the community.

"CHOC hospital informed us that they ran out of toys by July last year, so hopefully we can help restock their supply for this year. The generosity of our students and teachers always amazes me," says Coderre.

Fairmont's holiday Toy Run is the prelude to a much larger annual event when the entire membership of the OCHOG Chapter delivers all of the community's toy donations to CHOC Hospital on Christmas day. Mike Colwell, known to his fellow bikers and the community as "Santa," turned his personal Christmas crusade over to the OCHOG chapter 14 years ago when the first CHOC delivery was made. Colwell, who is partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke in 1996 still participates every year in the Toy Run and visits each campus with the group donning his Santa suit with Mrs. Claus by his side.