After the Vista Grande High School Marine Corps JROTC cadets parted company with Santa at the Fire Station in Arizona City on Friday, December 3, he was so impressed with their performance that he requested even more assistance. In the current economic environment, Santa too has been affected by the employee shortages and needed to outsource some Santa Workshop duties. Santa’s plea for help read, “Needed - Somewhere to store and some helpers to sort a mountain of toys before Christmas Eve.” The cadets unhesitatingly offered up the Marine Corps JROTC rifle range to help Santa out of this fix. Like the cadets, when Principal Beechum was notified of Santa’s dilemma, she and other administrators were more than willing to allow cadets to support. Instructors started unloading toys from the filled sleigh (a 26ft. U-Haul truck and a 14 ft. trailer) on Sunday night, December 5. On Monday morning, December 6, cadets promptly resumed offloading, sorting, organizing, and counting the myriad of toys. Sure cadets were helping Santa, but they were also assisting the local chapter of the Casa Grande Toys for Tots. As a result, cadets sorted more than 1,000 toys in preparation for distribution on Wednesday, December 15, at the Casa Grande VFW. The Spartans are instructed by Dr. Tyrone Hall, CWO-3 (ret), and MSgt Jorge Rico. Visit their webpage at www.cguhsd.org/vgJROTC.aspx.