Santa Maria "Parade of Lights" A Rousing Success

Photos by Nathan Appel. ©2007 All rights reserved.
Click on slideshow to view gallery and order prints online.

Steve Smith | MARKETING

The 2007 Santa Maria Christmas Parade of Lights was by all accounts a rousing success. This year's parade featured 110 entries, including local businesses, churches, charities, schools and social groups. Both sides of Broadway were brimming with spectators, estimated at over 25,000 onlookers, a big increase over last year's turnout.

Four Rotary clubs - Santa Maria Breakfast, Santa Maria South, Santa Maria Noontime and Nipomo - organize the parade. In keeping with the theme, “The Joy of Giving,” spectators and parade participants brought in almost 5,000 pounds of nonperishable food items to donate to the Salvation Army food pantry.

This year's CHC procession was presided over by our Honorary Head Cheerleader, Lisa Silva. Lisa led the pack -- pop-poms waving -- and kept everyone in good spirits with her infectious cheer. She led the kids in CHC chants, and impressed us all with her acrobatic high kicks. As always, we could not have pulled off this year's entry without Parade Volunteer Coordinator Irma Mejia, and Transportation Queen Patty Starr. Special thanks to everyone who arrived early to help with decorating the Mobile Medical Unit, which looked beautiful. Even our photographer Nathan Appel put down his camera long enough to help trim the van with lights. This year our team handed out 3000 CHC brochures in English and Spanish, which included a "Healthy Holidays" refrigerator magnet, highlighting the two Santa Maria health center locations.

KCOY and FOX11 both featured live coverage of the parade. CHC's entry can be viewed here: CHC Parade Coverage
After the commercial, CHC is position #69, at minute 13:47 in the video clip

I have to take a moment to thank all the kids who participated. During the hours before the parade, and during the procession itself, I never once heard a single word of protest from these little troopers. They were all smiles and waves, and so helpful with handing out brochures, while spreading CHC's special brand of holiday cheer. My hats off to them, and to their parents for raising such well-mannered and enthusiastic youngsters!

Many, many thanks to all the volunteers for braving the chilly weather -- you are CHC's Ambassadors to the communities we serve.

Healthy Holidays!

Santa Maria Christmas Parade - Call for Volunteers

Irma Mejia | HOMELESS PROGRAM (HCHP)
Photos by Nathan Appel. All rights reserved, ©2006


The holidays are upon us, and CHC is preparing our entry in the Annual Santa Maria Rotary Christmas Parade. This year's parade is on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 and starts at 5:20 p.m. We would like to invite all staff and their families to volunteer to walk in this year's CHC entry. If you are interested in participating please contact Irma Mejia NO LATER THAN Tuesday, November 20, 2007.

You can email Irma @ imejia@chccc.org or call her at (805) 440-9175.

Any volunteers who do not already have a red CHC sweatshirt, please let Irma know your sizes ASAP. We need to remind all volunteers that pets are not allowed in the parade. We will be providing Elf & Snowman costumes for the kids again this year, so let Irma know how many children will be walking, their age, and size. An email update will be sent out with our line-up number and arrival time as soon as we hear from parade organizers.

Thanks, and Healthy Holidays!

Christmas Party Raises the Bar on Fun

This year's holiday celebration raised the bar with over 400 CHC employees and their guests in attendance! Special thanks to Mr. Castle and the leadership team for hosting this annual event for all CHC employees to enjoy. Huge thank-you to Patricia Sly & Marie McKenzie for doing a fantastic job with coordination! Special shout-out to Wild-woman Lisa Silva for MC-ing the festivities!
Click here for photos from the 2006 Christmas Party

Spreading CHC's Brand of Holiday Cheer

The holidays were a magical time at CHC, with a flurry of activities around the Central Coast. This year we participated in the Santa Maria Elks Holiday Parade with more than 30 staff members volunteering to walk in the parade, handing out “goodie bags” and spreading CHC’s special brand of holiday cheer. Special thanks to Irma Mejia for coordinating our entry in the parade, to Patty Starr for driving the mobile van, and to all the volunteers who helped decorate the mobile unit, assembled goodie bags, and brave the chill with big grins – Thank You!

Click here to see photos from the 2006 Elks Christmas Parade