Santa's SUV: Dealership delivers presents to area seniors

On Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and...Subaru.

Indeed, it was a Santa-esque time Tuesday for volunteers from Brandon Tomes Subaru of McKinney. They headed out with gifts -- in mid-sized SUVs instead of sleighs -- to deliver an early Christmas to local senior citizens.

Teaming with Meals on Wheels, which daily provides meals for more than 600 seniors in Collin County, the volunteers went a drive-around-town farther to more personally "share the love."

"A lot of these folks don't have family," said Peggy Click, who organized the countywide gift drop. "For some, this will be the only Christmas they get."

Click and several others loaded up five Subarus with Christmas packages filled with blankets, pajamas, pillows and everything else on the seniors' wish lists. With antlers on the front windows and matching red noses on their grills, the volunteer-driven cars embodied the gift-giving legend -- Santa, sleigh and reindeer, all in one.

The delivery is just one of several to take off this month from the Collin County Committee on Aging (CCCoA) headquarters near downtown McKinney. Starting in September, Meals on Wheels recipients checked off their most desired items from the proposed wish lists.

Community volunteers gathered and wrapped the gifts and unloaded them at the CCCoA facility. Deliveries began this week from a sorting room that looked a little like Santa's workshop, covered wall to wall with presents.

"We give them a general list of ideas, and they have a line or two to tell us anything they really need," said Kay Pennington, Meals on Wheels director of senior services. "It's up to volunteers to decide if they get everything on the list, but everyone gets a gift."

And many got their gifts Tuesday straight off a Subaru SUV. The gift drop was an extension of the motor company's annual "Share the Love" campaign, through which the McKinney dealership donates $250 to one of five charities for every Subaru it sells or leases.

Customers designate which charity they'd like the donation to go toward when they buy or lease their vehicle. This year's beneficiaries include Meals on Wheels, American Forests, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Subaru will submit the donations by March 1, after which customers will get a "Thank you" letter from Subaru and their chosen charity.

Others can contribute by joining the "Share the Love" Facebook page and clicking a link that calls for a $1 donation to one of the charities. W.E. Fowler, general sales manager for Brandon Tomes Subaru, who was on hand for Tuesday's gift delivery, said the company expects to distribute $5 million through the campaign, as it did last year.

Subaru hadn't before chosen Meals on Wheels as a recipient charity, so Fowler and other company employees wanted to get a feel for its services. Instead of transporting hot meals, they used the new vehicles as more modern, engine-powered sleighs.

Though presents packed all five Subaru trunks, the delivery barely made a dent in the gift room at the CCCoA building. But by the end of next week, the room should be empty, so volunteers have ample time to enjoy their own Christmas.

Some may even be expecting Santa and his reindeer -- just not any named Subaru. They already made their rounds to seniors' homes.

"Everyone at Christmas time thinks to do a lot for the kids, but they don't necessarily think about the older folks," Click said. "This is just to let them know that people in the community care about them, that they're not forgotten."

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