For Violet Gutierrez, raising two sons on the autism spectrum hasn’t been easy. But in October 2016, her life got even harder: Her third child, 8-year-old Arianna, was diagnosed with leukemia after weeks in the hospital as doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong.
By the time the holidays rolled around — between long, scary nights in the hospital and medical bills piling up — she and her husband didn’t have time to figure out what to get their kids for Christmas.
Then an official at her kids’ elementary school stepped in, signing up her family for the Hayward Police Department’s annual toy drive, which for 20 years has delivered gifts to families in need around the city.
