CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Agua Dulce City Marshal and some Nueces County sheriff’s deputies went on a shopping spree Wednesday morning to bring an early Christmas to the kids of Agua Dulce.
“It is a very magical experience for everyone involved,” said Nora Lopez.
Lopez, the principal at Agua Dulce Elementary, and some of her staff went to the Walmart in Calallen and picked out $15,000 worth of toys for 180 kids.
“We’re like a kid in a candy store,” Joe Martinez, the Agua Dulce city marshal said. “We have $15,000 to spend on toys. I wish I was a kid again.”
Martinez said the money was donated by the Wyatt Ranches Foundation.
“Because of the pandemic, we’re told that this year there might be or there will be a shortage of toys. So we are trying to get a jump on things,” Martinez said
He said the pandemic has really affected the small community with some families losing parents or grandparents.
“Every year the kids look forward to Christmas because in some of the cases this might be some of the only toys that these kids get, so the Ranches have been very instrumental,” Martinez said.
On December 17, the kids will get out of school early and go to the Wyatt Ranches Mansion which will be decked out for the holidays.
“Santa and Mrs. Clause are there,” Lopez said. “They come in by helicopter and then the mansion is fully decorated.”
Like in 2020, the giveaway will be a drive thru.
“It was like a movie cause we drive in and you see the big mansion,” parent Inez Espinoza said about her daughter's reaction the year before last. “You know you see all of the horses all of the cowboys.”
Wyatt Ranches owns cattle ranches in Colorado, South and West Texas and has donated countless dollars to area law enforcement, non-profits, schools and hospitals.
“This is a blessing,” Lopez said. “A blessing to our school, to our community but more importantly to our children.”
