Victoria Events with Caleb Shaw - Toys for Tots, Victoria Public Library, Museum of the Coastal Bend

[Music] all right welcome back to another Victoria events with Caleb Shaw it is Monday December 4th we survived Thanksgiving we survived my birthday we made it here it's already December I bet if somebody told you there was only a month left in the year you wouldn't believe them but here we are on that note though I've got some of my favorite people in here that do an amazing job in the community but just in case you haven't caught him lately or don't know who I'm talking about young lady if you wouldn't mind please introduce yourself and who you are here with and we'll just go right down the line uh I'm Becca bosquez I'm with choice for Tots I'm here with uh Mark Loria well first off before we go any further thank you to both of you guys I know you all wear a ton of hats in the community you do a ton of things it's a draw away from your family it's time away from your friends and it's all time spent giving back to our community so thank you for that it's sincerely appreciated and on that note what in the world is Toys for Tots I just moved here today I have no idea what you're talking about Fill Me In right Toys for Tots I've been doing this for almost 15 years now as the coordinator Toys for Tots coordinator and so what we do is we look to make Christmas special for children less fortunate children in Victoria and now throughout the surrounding counties we we cover like Seven Counties now straight out of Victoria and um you know it's our our mission is really is to to bring hope to Children uh during the Christmas season you know because there's a lot of kids that wake up in the morning and there's nothing under the tree and it's been our mission to stop that to when they wake up they have the joy and the spirit of Christmas uh that Christmas morning and so that's what we do we we love to see kids smile and uh we've been doing this for many years and we're happy to continue doing it well you guys you do do a good job with it and I I know like you know right now times are tough and even under the best of years there's always those people that are hurting and don't have it but you know right now we've got inflation we've got just T everything everything it once is just whooping us right now and people need that help and and so how when I step step back and try to look at this it has to be a massive thing to sit here you know Victoria's a big community and I would assume that there's probably a lot of kids in this town that need the help what kind of size numbers are we talking about here when you get into the how many kids are you guys trying to take care of and and roughly if you could even put a number on it how many toys are you talking here to try to that you need to raise to try to get a tree a toy under every tree gotta I'll I'll talk about how many how many people that we that we serve every year Becca she handles all the warehouse counts all the toys and she can tell you the toy count of what we need but normally it's around 16,000 or more kids every year that we serve and last year it was 16, 158 children that we were able to to make Christmas possible for them and and that's in Victoria and the surrounding counties and so that's a lot of people a lot of kids a lot of families and of course when when covid happened and and and all these things you know the economy it's it's people are still not recovered no people aren't recovered and so you have a lot of families in need and so um it keeps growing every year as our economy keeps tanking and hopefully one day it wouldn't be that but you know there always going to be families that need help and and it's not the children's fault and we want to be there for the kids and so it takes you know quite a bit of of effort and it takes the community coming out and saying we love these kids too let's get behind toys for 1,58 or whatever that's that's insane how many roughly and I know you it's probably 1658 or whatever but you know what kind of inventory of Tories are you having to take in to take care of all those kids that seems like a mass coordination effort of of just even the distrib you know the intake and then the distribution of that seems like that by itself was an entire job to get that out there it definitely is it definitely is so we we count all the toys that come in um I usually need a little over 60,000 toys to do that because we don't just give each child one toy um that's what it used to be because it's what um you know just on donations but we were able to give them a few toys um for each child and stuff so yeah it's that number grows every year I mean a few years ago it wasn't the whole 16,000 but it's been going and going so now it's been you know that's usually what our number is now the 16,000 kids so we need a little over 60,000 um but our registrations man I'm you know they're building um so I'm thinking this year we're probably going to hit a little bit higher that's a that's amazing and I know you guys and we're going to get to this in just a second you guys have these toy drives and then the distribution and stuff all this coming up but let's say for some reason you know I'm not going to be here this Frid I'm out of town this weekend and I can't do it but I really believe in you guys' Mission and again we're going to get to all the details of this but if I can't make this upcoming event and I want to support what you guys are doing whether that be volunteering a monetary donation things like that am I able to do so can I call you guys up and say hey man I can't be there this weekend but two things I want to volunteer and then in L of being able to make this deal I want to make a monetary donation can I volunteer and make a donation to you guys if I can't make an event yes definitely you sure can uh you can go online to do the monetary donations um this event uh this Friday is not the only event we'll have uh we also have distribution day we have Warehouse days where we go in and pack the toys reach to the families um distribution day is like a really big old giveaway that we do so we definitely need volunteers there to help uh get all the the bags out and stuff for the families and I know the Facebook page is a great way to reach you guys I when I scan through there you had ton of things going on you were really good at tracking where you guys were at and what you were doing is that a good way to to reach out to you guys to message if I if I want to join or if I have questions is that a good way to get in touch with you guys is through the Facebook page yeah through our Facebook page uh message us us there or go to our website um it's Victor dx. toysfortots.org uh we have all the different things that are going on that we have um and there's tons of toy drives people call all the time saying can we host our own toy drive and you know like velocity's doing one our big one this week this weekend is HB plus and HB real grand where we call stuff the truck we have a big military truck there and and it's kind of our last big push you know it's an awesome problem to have H people calling you up say hey we want to do a toy drive for you you know that works right in line with our mission we'll take that there's a wrestling show happening in dasta that they're going to you know to get in is bring a toy and how awesome man community so many people just say you know how can we host our own toy drive so we we give them boxes there's 150 plus people who have a marines Toys for Tots box at their locations and they're collecting toys for us Christmas parties uh one lady every year I don't know if you know Penny Gates Penny Gates does a in invites all her friends and she she fills up like 13 to 20 boxes of toys you know just at her out of her house yes sir and so you know that's really cool good-hearted people saying man I believe in in the marines Toys for Tots and I want to help these these children that's that's awesome and on that note let's get to this event because this Friday through Sunday you guys are having a toy drive at HB plus and HB real grand correct me if I'm wrong on any of this from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at those two HB locations they can either show up and buy some toys and donate them or they can bring them with them and hook you guys up is that all good give me the details on this what am I missing anything U well we'll have we'll have Booth set up at each door at at both HBS and and so people can come bring their toys stuff the truck or go inside HB buy a toy or you want to do it or if you don't have time we do have cash boxes that we we get that cash and we go buy toys yes cuz I don't like shopping and that that caused my anxiety go through the roof soide much here take this and y'all go grab the gift you'll probably do better than me anyway and so yes I I like that so what we do too as well just because we believe in our community we could go to wholesalers and all that kind of stuff but we like to shop local you know we want to provide jobs for our people and and make our businesses expand here in Victoria and so all the money that we get we spend here you know it may cost a little bit more but it's still keeps Victoria strong you know and and we we believe in that you know and it builds our relationships with with the different uh retailers and they do help us out they do give us discounts and things of that nature but I want to make sure we keep it local appreciate that and then distribution will be on the 17th um from 4: to 6 what is the best way how does that work what's the best way to stay out in front of that right so it works um the children have already been pre-registered we have registration going on at at City Harvest Church faith family church and through VD school districts got it now the other communities out of town refurio goad all the head starts all things going on they have we we provide their toys for their distribution they for us and so um but our distribution in Victoria is December 17th and and what we do is we get there at early as 8 o'clock in the morning to decorate the community center it's at the community center make it feel very Christmasy and and Marines and blue Santa is with as well uh the Blue Sand the police department we partnered together every year to do this together so blue sand will be there taking pictures of kid photo a blue Santa and a marine I even though I went Air Force I'll tell you I was always jealous of Marines dress uniform they they had they had the best dress uniform even it's an Air Force guy I will give that up to them they almost got me because of that uniform yes sir so that that's a good picture blue Santa and the Marines Santa Marines and so the kids that are that are registered they get a ticket with their number on it and and we we have everything pre-bagged for the parents to come in and we'll have uh bounce houses and different things for the kids to to have fun while the parents pick up the toys and and it's just a big Christmas party so that they'll come and pick up the toys have fun and and have that and we'll start bringing the Christmas spirit in you know well you guys do a phenomenal job thank you again for the community from the community for all that you guys do this Friday and Saturday make sure you make it to h plus or HB Rio Grand 9:00 a.m. to 700 PM bring a toy donate a toy donate a monetary donation or just shake their hands volunteer and offer the help because I'm sure they could use it anything I'm forgetting guys um the kids that that we uh take donations for are from um infants all the way to 17year olds got it so I'm just outside that is what you're saying okay all right good to know but again thank you guys for all that you do let's take a quick break for our sponsors and we'll be right [Applause] [Music] back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right guys welcome back my next guest you've seen one of them before but just in case you don't remember let's go on down the line introduce yourself and let them know who you are here with yeah I'm Banna bwell I'm the program manager at the Victoria Public Library yes ma'am and you Rachel Shu I'm my children's assistant in the Victoria Public Library out standing well I'm going to say the same thing that I always do about you guys when we get started it's pretty cool over there like I hadn't been until I went into you guys Library I hadn't been to a public library since I was like 4 and it wasn't even in this town and that was the best record I had and I could barely remember what a public library was until I walked into our public library and I was like oh my goodness like this is pretty wild like you guys have an incredible Library down there there's so much and I know everybody knows this library in books but there's so much more than that that you guys have that whole media room and I know I'm butchering the name it probably has some fancy thing but you know but my point was it was way more than just some books on a shelf in there you guys had everything from computers to news to videos to I think there was DVDs like there was everything in there but you guys also do a whole bunch of stuff for the community as far as these little workshops and entertainment and all that so let's jump into that I know you guys have one coming up this Saturday that's probably a pretty big hit for you guys that people really like because I think it's pretty awesome but what do you got going on this weekend so this is probably our favorite event of the year it's our annual gingerbread Workshop this is our 33rd year doing this holy smok that's that's impressive right there now what is a gingerbread Workshop because I I have a way of just messing up everything I put my hands on and the thought of me trying to build a gingerbread or a gingerbread house just it almost seems impossible so how does this work out how would you guys help me to build a gingerbread house all ages can come we provide the whole kit for you to build um thank goodness so I don't have to just show up and just know how to build a gingerbread house thank God okay good so you guys this is a gingerbread kit that you guys have and uh do adults do this adult okay so I wouldn't be the one big kid sitting there with all the little kids and looking Goofy last year we had a family that brought in college kids cuz they wanted to relive that did they did they turn into a competition who could I knew it I knew it who could build the best gingerbread house well this is a really cool thing and and you know we we joked about the 33 years but that's awesome and that's because people really enjoy this and so how does that go let's I'm I'm nervous about crowds I get kind of nervous and a lot of times that's the hard part is just walking in the first time so what can I expect from this am I going to walk in and everybody tackle me or is everybody going to welcome me in how does this go yeah we welcome you in you come in grab your kit we'll have table set out you can either stay and build your kit or if you want to take it home and build it at home you can build it at home you know I may do that just cuz I wanted everybody to see how bad it is but I would probably need to stay there and copy off of other people to to learn how to do it but this is just one of you guys do so many different things in there and it's and you know and these things are are greatly appreciated is it going to cost me you know how much does this cost if I want to come do this everything's free you don't need to let us know beforehand we just take away every excuse I could possibly come up with to not do this so it's free free I don't have to register I can just show up and come do this and we have over a thousand kits so we're ready to that was my question I was say you know but would it help to make sure you had enough but you're good to go there so now I need to come up with like 999 FRS to to help up with this thing so so just show up no cost gingerbread house provided just have fun it's that simple huh that's and that's a wrap guys just show up it's free it's but I'll joke it aside this is a really cool thing you do if we want to support the library how can we do so you know I can't make this event but I just want to come check it out you know do I do I have to have a library card just to walk in and come see you guys can you give me The Grand Tour and show me around and let me know what we all all we have and all that just come check us out we love helping people there um we love to see the community come in and use our resources in building so what if I had an idea of something I wanted to present to the community Through you guys can I come and say you know come talk to us I play well I don't play any instruments I'm terrible and I have no rhythm no dancing ability so I'd have to really think of something but but I could just comeing and talk to you guys that we could brainstorm on something to do for the community and there's a way for iron to sharpen iron and we could do it we can do it oh yeah we work with the community a lot with events and you guys do phenomenal and I sincerely appreciate it so again it's this Saturday at the oh it's such a community CER glad I down okay and I don't I don't know why I just don't need to always grab you right here when we talk but that this is happening so yeah but this Saturday at the community center and is where they need to go not the library no it's grown so much we had to move to the community center for what an amazing problem to have though so it Community Center Annex 10:30 to 2:00 p.m. if I'm getting there at like 1:30 would that be a little too late good to go okay good deal what am I forgetting ladies gingerbread Workshop this Saturday Community Center NX what AM we got our kit here anything I'm forgetting y'all got who all helped with this local businesses anything like that anybody we want to give a shout out to real quick yeah we'll have about 10 local businesses good good going have resources and information about their um business and all all that they offer huh um is there anything I'm forgetting ladies not that good well again thank you you guys do a phenomenal job here I'm excited for this the gingerbread house because I I wouldn't I wouldn't have even known what to bring so well done on this look forward to it keep us in mind for the future any of these 10 million events that you guys do all the time let us know and and you really do what's the best way for people to track all those it's a Facebook page you can check us out on our Facebook Victoria Public Library uh we also have our website that has our event calendar www. voru library.org yes Ma and you guys are always super receptive because I've asked you lots of dumb questions and you guys always answer them and nobody s a book at me or anything and so it's it's great well thank you guys so much let's take a quick break and we got a special guest for our last one and we'll be right [Music] back since 1932 W and vulk has been closing mortgages and doing it the right way the reason why the vk's opened up a bank um at the height of the Great Depression was because the bank needed to be opened at the height of the Great Depression and it was good for the community at that time a lot of the banks were going under in order to keep that Community sound and stable it was something that they did I think that that says something about who Wallock and vul was 85 years ago and the only way you get to continue to do it is if you consistently do it great and we plan on doing this for another 85 [Music] years all right guys welcome back my next guest big fan they do a lot a lot over there but I'm not going to steal all the Thunder I will let her introduce herself and let us know who she is here with good morning Caleb I'm Su prudom I'm executive director of cultural Affairs for Victoria College and I'm the director of the Museum of the coastal band you do a phenomenal job and I'm going to start like I always do if people have not been to the Museum of the coastal B they need to one is free they don't have any right still free okay for I should have asked that for but it's free so they don't really have any excuse to not go because it doesn't cost but what a cool place to have right in our own backyard it was literally like in my backyard for several years before I knew it was there and I we rode our bikes or something and we happen to stop in there and wow what a resource and cool place to go and learn some history that is right here it's local it's in our backyard and it's fun and the way you guys have put it together is it really flows through the whole thing and even if you just want to walk through and gaze you can do that or you have deals where we can go in we can go Hands-On we can set up with you guys to I know that's probably for the kids but I'm a big kid and so y let me a little bit yes ma'am and we had a ton of fun and so I just before we get into the amazing events that you guys have going on that I know are very popular I just really want to encourage and stress to you what a neat resources is go check it out it's right in our backyard and it's just it's really neat to see that Texas history of our Coastal bin right there and so sorry I just wanted to plug that because I I apprciate over there and I was like why why why have I not been here before and now we've gone several times my son and I we ride our bikes over there we just when we need to kill some time we go walk through there and we just we really enjoy it and so sorry I just wanted to get that all out you guys do a great job and um other people can come and appreciate us just like you do we're open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. admission is free you can give a donation at the door if you'd like yes ma'am and those are are important to they extr yes we are funded by the community um and we need everyone's support to do what we do absolutely we cover everything from prehistory the people who lived in the area 13,000 plus years ago um all the way through the French colonization efforts um Spanish mission that was here in Victoria County and we're about to open a new wing for a permanent ranching exhibit and we're really excited about that because you guys you've really captured it from from even the outside when you're walking up and I'm going to butcher the terminology here but you guys have that outline of the ship right there when you're coming out and it it really kind of captures you and gives you a feel for what our early ancestors and settlers and all those really kind of had to deal with and then it just goes from there you open the door and you have these cannons right there these Texas cannons and all these different you know parts of history and it's hard to not just stand go wow like yeah it's pretty amazing you know those people who came here from France and Spain um 300 plus years ago it's probably equivalent to us going to Mars today they really had no idea what they were getting into and unfortunately quite a few of them met a very unfortunate uh death um but it's a fascinating story of exploration that outline that you were talking about of the ship's deck in front of the museum that's a tocale outline and if you can imagine it's not huge but about 50 people across the Atlantic Ocean to be honest ship I've stood out there several times in that exact spot just be like this would be terrible like this would be a terrible way to travel I'm not into crowds I can't imagine doing that for several months yes ma'am and you really start to as you I mean like I said it starts right there but as you progress a lot of those feelings and thoughts really started sinking into me a real appreciation for those that came before me and the struggles and adversities that they affected that they you know encountered and and really the discipline and and mindset that they had to have to get through all that and persevere and overcome and establish what all we like this was built on the back of Giants and I think it's really cool you know we we've kind of gotten soft as a society you know power went out right now we'd be in trouble these guys didn't even know what that was you know and so it's very impressive and you guys I say it all the time but it's a special place that you really need to go to and and hats off to you guys for how well you you run it and on that note before I just talk away all of your time I'm so excited to have you on for this holiday artisian market because I've missed you the last couple years on it but I constantly hear how wonderful and how amazing this event is and so I was glad we could capture you guys and get you in here to talk about it I know it's this Thursday from 11:00 to 6 at the Museum of the coastal bin but what in the world is an artisian Market did I even say it right and Artisan you're boy I'm I'm learning this say it again well Artisan if you think about when Victoria was founded there were many Artisans who were in this area who were helping to construct the beautiful buildings that we see downtown today um there were people who were crafting um blacksmiths who were crafting SP it's um saddle makers hat makers these were all people who made individual one-of-a kind items and they're such an important part of the heritage of Victoria and Texas so 16 years ago we decided to Showcase The Artisans and makers of today and this is our 16th year having this Artisans Market we have one in the spring but our biggest one of the year is the holiday one and this year we're expanding into our new construction it's going to be our biggest Artisans market yet you have a huge list of vendors here impressive 26 vendors and they're doing everything from um handforge knives um jewelry excit it's all you've even got beard small batch soaps body and beard products I know my beard is looking a little bit ratty right now but it I wasn't on there yes you have what I need yes ma'am yeah jams jellies preserves wow this is an incredible vendors list of of backyard burer I happen to be a fan of hers as well and they're all here these are all people that you can visit locally or regionally um when they're not at the Museum I want you to come to the museum and visit all of our vendors the market starts at 11 a.m. um we normally have several hundred people attend this Market throughout the day it ends at 6:00 a.m. admissions free it's open to the public good stuff probably goes early too so you might want to get there closer to the 11:00 a.m. especially our jam and jelly people they're going to run out um so get there early um but you can find something good at any time we also are going to be providing um complimentary snacks and beverages throughout the day just to get everyone in the holiday spirit yes I love it I love it and you you know your point on the the jams and jellies those those are one of those things when I was younger I would just go to the store and just buy the old you know full of preserves and all the gross stuff and that's what I would buy it's so much better getting it from somebody that makes his stuff and not going to the store these particular vendors that we have at the market I know that they're making them homemade they came to my backyard and they picked Mustang grapes this summer so they're going to have some of the Mustang grape jelly from Sue's backyard that's what I'm talking about Miss that's what I'm talking about that is good yeah I'm I'm with you we this is one of the things my wife has been leaning on me for a long time like I thought you just had to go to the store and go buy everything and she's like no there's a farmers market there's all you would much rather have it local by press and support our local economy and support our local people who make these unique handcrafted items we'll even have furn people who make their own Furniture there and I'll take it a step further we need to make sure we support the whole entire thing because you guys have managed to get all these awesome vendors Under One Roof which I know that is a lot of work in itself and we need to make sure that we show up for these type of things because you said 16 years 16 years years and yeah we need to make this the biggest one that we have but we don't get a 17 unless we do really good on 16 and so I these these the more we we continue to encounter all these things as a country inflation and all of these the more it drives home the point of local to me and taking care of each other and things like this being important to show our local vendors to show our community our Crossroads and how we are really there for each other as it should be you know and yeah and we're a community and we support each other absolutely yes ma'am is there anything again that I am forgetting to tell people I get excited and I get all I want to ask you I know we're getting early and I'm jumping off but my wife will get really really mad at me if I don't ask you are you guys doing the grand old Christmas show again my wife is a huge fan of that and I know it's a sneak peek day but I I got to know if one's coming so we can have you on the show later for it that's my other hat that I wear at the Leo J welder Center for the Performing Arts downtown Grand O Christmas show is coming back on December 19th save the date good we are going to save that date and thank you for all the hats that you do wear again one hat is enough for most people because it's a lot of work and you wear multiple hats to get back to our community and so as a community thank you for that thank you from your family your friends to help us and so we're very grateful am I forgetting anything did I get in all the good stuff to make sure you know we should probably uh for people who haven't been to the museum before let's make sure that they know that we are located on the campus of Victoria College we're on the corner of Red River and Ben Jordan yes ma'am sure right there look for that parking yep there is and and again free so there's no excuse and so what were the hours of the uh uh Museum again Tuesday the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and then the market is Thursday December 7th from 1100 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. perfect young lady thank you so much guys make sure you get out and you support this event support all of our events that we have going here support the people putting them on and let's just really especially through the holidays be kind to each other take take care of each other and local take care of local we'll see you at the next one guys thanks so much for tuning in to Victoria events with Caleb Shaw make sure you comment down below like the post share the post it really helps the algorithms if you haven't done so already make sure you follow our page if you're watching on YouTube subscribe and hit that notification Bell so you don't miss any episodes and if you have an event coming on you want featured on Victoria events shoot us a message we'd love to help you get the word out there lastly make sure you support our sponsor we could not do this show without them so we're very grateful thanks so much Victoria and we'll see you at the next [Music] one

Channel: Meet Victoria with Caleb Shaw

Views: 31

Keywords: caleb shaw, travel, victoria, meet victoria, victoria tx, victoria events, meet victoria with caleb shaw, victoria texas, explore victoria

Id: mf1SzA_Bzgo

Length: 29min 39sec (1779 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 05 2023