Lake Havasu Boat Parade Of Lights Donates Toys To Clothes Closet

By Becky Maxedon

The Lake Havasu Boat Parade of Lights hosted a Glow Night at Havasu Riviera Marina last Friday. The innagural dock glow featured boats decorated for last Saturday night’s Boat Parade of Lights.

Entry to the event was a monatary donation or an unwrapped toy. Children could write letters to Santa, drink hot chocolate courtesy of Human Bean, and decorate ornaments at the Night Glow.

The toys were donated to the Clothes Closet, a Lake Havasu City nonprofit that benefits those in the community in need of help.

“Since taking over the parade in 2020, the goal every Christmas season has been to give back to the community when possible,” said Lake Havasu Boat Parade of Lights director JJ Gibbs.

“Unfortunately, with the cost involved in making the parade happen, that’s not always a possibility. This year, through the partnership with the Riviera Marina, we were abe to donate 216 new toys to kids and families in need (at the Clothes Closet). Without the Havasu Riviera Marina, this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.

“We are thrilled to be able to donate these toys to the Clothes Closet this year and think it’s an amazing thing that Christine and all of the volunteers do to help people in need throughout the community. I encourage everybody in Lake Havasu to reach out to the Clothes Closet and help a great local organization that is directly impacting the community,” Gibbs said.

Thursday morning, represenatives from the Havasu Riviera Marina as well as Gibbs, were on hand to donate the toys. After the donation presentation, they were given a tour of the facility by its CEO Christine Watson.

Clothes Closet Lake Havasu RiverScene magazine

JJ Gibbs, “Elizabeth”, Jeremy Hendricks, Maria Schmeling, and Grant Benson deliver toys to the Clothes Closet Thursday.

“I think the best part about doing this is getting together with JJ, and being able to raise all the toys and being a part of a community event. As Maria Schmeling was saying earlier, to be present in the community and be a part of it. That’s the important thing to me,” said Havasu Riviera Marina operations manager Grant Benson.

Jeremy Hendricks, marina manager said, “I think this is great because we get an opportunity to make the holiday special to everybody and to be able to partner with them and make it special is important to us.”

“I think that you need t0 – to quote a great man Austin Ruffner – ‘you have to give where you live.’ It’s really important to give back to the community and I think the Clothes Closet is a great opporatunity to do that. I think they do a great thing here to help those in need,” Havasu Riviera Marina event coordinator Maria Schmeling said.

Christine Watson, CEO of the Clothes Closet expressed her gratitude and the importance of the donation.

“I am so amazed and so blessed in the community of all the help we get. I couldn’t do it without them. These toys are going to be amazing. We are trying to not to take from all the other toys. But these toys are also going to be given out through out the entire year with families that come in that are in need. Or they don’t have a birthday present for their son or daughter and they aren’t just given out at Christmas time.” Watson said.

In fact, just a few hours after the donation, the Clothes Closet helped nine families in need that missed the deadlines for other organizations for toys for Christmas.

Other sponsors of the Night Glow event included Printing Plus and Murphy Broadcasting.