{"id":32606,"date":"2022-12-24T15:18:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T23:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000029197"},"modified":"2022-12-24T15:18:59","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T23:18:59","slug":"photos-hood-santa-visits-central-long-beach-for-a-toy-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/photos-hood-santa-visits-central-long-beach-for-a-toy-giveaway","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Hood Santa visits Central Long Beach for a toy giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hood Santa was dressed to the nines in his red suit as he walked a line of thousands Saturday, greeting as many people as he could ahead of the 12th annual Local Hearts Foundation toy giveaway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be able to come back to the community here, my old neighborhood, and bless this little part of Long Beach,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

The line of over 6,000 people stretched half way around MacArthur Park in Central Long Beach. Dajohn Grayson and his 6- and 8-year-old kids lined up for the event at 8 a.m. It was nearly noon by the time they reached the front of the line and picked out their toys but it was worth the wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is three years running for us at this event, it\u2019s like a tradition,\u201d Grayson said. \u201cIt\u2019s also good community outreach\u2014we get to see each other, people we maybe haven\u2019t seen in a while, and check up on one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tito Rodriguez, aka Hood Santa, greets kids as they wait in line for the 12th annual Local Hearts Foundation A Diamond Christmas toy giveaway event at MacArthur Park in Central Long Beach Saturday, Dec. 24 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the start of the event, each child was allowed to choose two toys. Due to the overwhelming turnout, however, the limit was reduced to one to ensure each child would receive a gift.<\/p>\n

In all, over 10,000 toys were given out, about 90% of which were donated by SOS Booking<\/a>, which hosts an annual hardcore music festival called For the Children. A new, unwrapped toy is required for entry into the two-day music festival that took place Dec. 17 and 18.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dozens of volunteers helped hand out toys during a giveaway event at MacArthur Park Saturday, Dec 24, 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rodriguez said he grew up extremely poor, so he knows how hard the holiday\u2019s can be for some families. He noted that some families that attended the event had as many as six kids and that even spending as little as $30 on each could spread some families too thin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot because the kids only got a certain limit of toys because of our budget,\u201d Regina Franco said of her three kids who are 6, 9 and 13 years old. \u201cPeople wait hours just to get presents and it means something to these kids. They leave with a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
King Littlefield, 4, holds a Nerf set while he decides which toy he will choose during a toy giveaway hosted by the Local Hearts Foundation at MacArthur Park in Central Long Beach Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A volunteer helps Adrian Tello, 7, puts his toys in a bag during a Local Hearts Foundation Christmas giveaway at MacArthur Park in Central Long Beach Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Thousands stood in a line that wrapped half way around Long Beach’s MacArthur Park for the 12th annual A Diamond Christmas toy giveaway Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Enrique Pascual, 10, kicks the new soccer ball he received at a toy giveaway event at MacArthur Park Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Tito Rodriguez, aka Hood Santa, greets hundreds of families at the 12th annual Local Hearts Foundation A Diamond Christmas toy giveaway event at MacArthur Park in Central Long Beach Saturday, Dec. 24 2022. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In all, over 10,000 toys were given out, about 90% of which were donated by SOS Booking, which hosts an annual hardcore music festival called For the Children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":72221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13612],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25820],"class_list":["post-32606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-hood-santa","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32606"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32606"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}