The Kiwanis Club of Arnold will hold its eighth annual Giving and Light Fair from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
It’s free to attend the event. However, organizers ask attendees to donate an unwrapped toy or nonperishable food item. Donations will be distributed to Fox C-6 School District families and the Gateway Food Pantry, formerly the Arnold Food Pantry.
Festivities include giveaways, activities for children, visits from Santa and St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot Fredbird and a silent auction.
A free raffle will be held to give away 25 Chromebooks and six bicycles. Winners do not need to be present to collect their prizes.
“We look forward to it every year because we enjoy helping the kids,” Kiwanis member Carole Yount said. “The parents seem to enjoy it as much as the kids.”
Santa Claus will be available for free photos in the Service Center lobby, and the rest of the fair will be held in the building’s meeting room.
Yount said Dan Easton, a former Fox School District teacher, and his family will provide the free photos.
“Giving back to the community is something (the district has) instilled in Fox staff for years, so a lot of the people who work with us are former employees from the Fox School District. That says a lot for our community and the connection with the school district.”
Fredbird is expected to be at the fair between 3-3:30 p.m.
“He comes in bouncing around, and the kids go crazy,” Yount said. “They love him.”
Yount said the Chromebooks and bikes that will be raffled off were purchased with funds raised during the 11th annual Back the Blue Car Show, which the Arnold Police Officers Association and Kiwanis Club held during Arnold Days last fall.
Kevin Wilson, the APOA president, said the show raised $18,370.
Yount said the Kiwanis Club will also hand out free winter coats.
Rockport Heights Elementary School staff members will give away socks, and Lone Dell Elementary School staff members will give away hats and gloves to children who need those items.
Yount said Clyde Hamrick and Guffey elementary schools also will participate in the fair, and a teacher from Ridgewood Middle School will donate cookies.
Fox and Seckman high school Key Club members will volunteer during the event, Yount added.
She said Delta Dental has donated dental kits for children.
“It is the first year Delta Dental has done this,” she said. “I’m sure parents will appreciate (the kits).”
Members of Heroes for Kids, a nonprofit organization based in Perryville whose members dress up as superheroes, will be available for photos, and the Missouri Freemasons will register children for the Missouri Child Identification Program (MoCHIP).
“(Heroes for Kids members) walk around and interact with the crowd and have something neat to giveaway,” Yount said. “I think people enjoy the superheroes, especially the younger children.”
MoCHIP is a program that allows parents to store photos, fingerprints, their child’s information and emergency contacts on a disk that is compatible with the Amber Alert system that is used when a child is missing or abducted. The parents also will receive a dental bit impression of their child and two laminated ID cards.
Yount said it takes between 15 to 20 minutes for a child to complete the MoCHIP process, and she said the Freemasons are expected to bring search dogs for children to interact with in the room where they complete MoCHIP registration.
She also said the Freemasons will put on a search dog demonstration at about 2 p.m., when one of the dogs will search the Service Center for an item of clothing that belongs to a Kiwanis Club member.
“The response to the service dogs last year was amazing,” Yount said. “The kids loved them.”
Proceeds from the silent auction will be used to provide scholarships and other projects to benefit kids, Yount said.
For more information about the event, call Yount at 314-401-2669. People also may go to the club’s Facebook page.