How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Students in Kelseyville are showing their community spirit by collecting toys for children facing traumatic circumstances.
Riviera Elementary School's Friday Night Live Club sponsors a stuffed animal drive, according to teacher and club advisor Deanna Madeson.
Det. Mike Curran with the Lake County Sheriff's Office recently picked up a number of the stuffed toys that he said the school had had since the end of the school year.
Curran said the students make two toy donations annually.
“The stuffed animals are used at our office to give to kids for comfort during uncomfortable topic interviews, at the Child Interviewing Center located at Victim Witness, accident scenes and by our civil division on occasions,” Curran said.
Madeson said the students also collect stuffed toys as part of their October Red Ribbon Week celebration, which this year takes place from Oct. 25 through 29.
The Red Ribbon Week events focus on themes, such as “Hugs Not Drugs,” Madeson said.
Students are encouraged to bring with them stuffed animals from home, and also are asked to donate toys.
“It's the whole entire school that gets involved,” she said.
She explained that the club, founded in the 1980s, encourages children not to do drugs.
At Riviera Elementary, the fourth and fifth graders are involved with the club. “We try to do a lot of promotion at school and in the community by getting the kids involved,” she said.
Activities include poster contests, service to community members including projects for rest homes, and the annual “Peacemaker Essay” that takes place around Martin Luther King Day in January.
Find out about the California Friday Night Live Partnership at www.fridaynightlive.org/.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
