We all know by now that Santa Cops of Larimer County is no more. As an outsider looking in, my friend Marty Gerlach tried and tried and tried to help and everything kept working against him. For whatever actual reason, Santa Cops is gone, and his passion for this runs too deep to allow for such a void.
The Saturday party (12/16/2023) was planned months in advance as a Toy Drive for Santa Cops, and when I say months ago, we mean like at the last party in May. With a Toy Drive still scheduled, and no Larimer County organization to give the toys to, the initial thought was to shift it over to the Weld Elves. However, they’re pretty well set (which is great) but there is a huge void remaining in Larimer County, so these toys are staying local! The toys were wrapped Saturday evening, and the plan is to distribute this Friday or Saturday with the help of local first responders.
This expedited the need to get something operational in Larimer County ASAP! After throwing around some name ideas, the “NoCo Santa Squad” was born! I was asked a few days before the party if I’d be willing to be on the Board of this soon to be named 501c3 Non-Profit.
Do we know what we’re doing? Kind of yes…kind of no. But we’re going to drink from the firehose and learn really fast! We know people who know people who know what to do. So the process is officially underway! We registered the organization with the IRS as a 501c3, and submitted the application to the State of Colorado for charity/Non-Profit status starting 1-1-2024. Facebook page started at https://www.facebook.com/nocosantasquad and domain URLs are bought www.nocosantasquad.org.
Future plans include not only toy donations but monetary donations so we can just buy toys. There will be toy drives incompassing offroading clubs, first responders, parades…ton’s of ideas are being thrown out there. Imagine a parade toy drive where we have a huge trailer, and participants along the parade route fill it with toys!! We know people who have handled distribution logistics in the past and how we can get kids signed up to receive toys.
There’s a lot of logistical things that have to happen to get totally operational, but it’s going to be great! A bunch of people have already helped make this a reality in the background, and you all rock!!
Justin K.
Meet the Team
Marty Gerlach – President
Jim Dixon – Vice President
Justin King – Treasurer
Mandy Nelson – Secretary