SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 5, 2019 - Staff from Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry spent the day at San Antonio Police’s Blue Santa’s Workshop wrapping gifts for needy children, after donating nearly $4,000 in toys Wednesday.

“We are grateful for the extremely generous donation that Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry contributes to us,” Adriana Valadez, the director of community outreach and fundraising at San Antonio Police Officers Association, said. Valadez added that without the help of Money Mart’s volunteers, the Blue Santa Program would not be a success.

“We love donating toys and our time to the Blue Santa program,” Cathy Gish, vice president of Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry, said. “Knowing that we are helping a program who provides toys to kids that would likely not have toys for Christmas otherwise, is a very heartwarming feeling.”

The pawn store chain started working with Blue Santa six year ago. “For years we raffled a giant stocking full of toys in each for our stores. This was fun, but we wanted to find a more meaningful way to help more kids enjoy Christmas. I don’t remember exactly how we found Blue Santa, but we are so glad that we did.”

Shopping for toys starts in late October. Gish said the company shops for deals, getting as many toys possible for their budget. She said they buy gifts for kids of all ages, ordering everything from baby rattles to bath and body sets. Board games, Nerf guns, and basketballs are always on the list.

Blue Santa is one of two major local charitable contributions the Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry management team makes during the holidays. The company donated over 2400 pounds of food the San Antonio Food Bank in November. They also donated food to the Houston Food Bank and toys to Houston’s Blue Santa program.

SAPD Blue Santa has already received over 600 family applications, according to Valadez. Each family can have up to 12 children per application and Blue Santa continues to receive requests until Dec. 24th. To contribute to Blue Santa, visit sapdbluesanta.org.

Money Mart Pawn and Jewelry, owned by Brittex Financial Inc., has stores in 26 locations in San Antonio, Houston, and their surrounding areas. Money Mart Pawn and Jewelry has a Google rating of 4.7 and has earned a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of A+.