Low riders uplift Christmas for children in East End

Kids run down the street to greet the Latin Fantasy Lowrider Car Club as the club prepares to hand out Christmas gifts, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, in Houston. The club cruised in their lowrider vehicles, honking their horns and distributing toys and goodie-bags throughout Houston's low-income neighborhoods on Christmas Day. Latin Fantasy's tradition began 23 years ago with one truckload of toys and two lowriders cruising through low-income neighborhoods. less Kids run down the street to greet the Latin Fantasy Lowrider Car Club as the club prepares to hand out Christmas gifts, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, in Houston. The club cruised in their lowrider vehicles, honking ... more Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Low riders uplift Christmas for children in East End 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

With the rumble of a police cruiser and the glitter of an ice cream truck, the caravan of lowriders ambling through the East End likely interrupted more than one Christmas unwrapping Thursday morning.

The dozen cars winding through mostly low-income, Hispanic neighborhoods had flashing sirens, train horns, hydraulic suspensions, custom paint jobs and more importantly than all, Hot Wheels and Glam Girls.

That's what draws scores of children, emerging seemingly from nowhere, out their homes and toward the gifts.

"They know ya'll are coming, so they were waiting," said Jessica Camposano, who walked her four kids to Avenue O in Manchester, and gathered about fives times as many from the block on the way. "I just call them out because sometimes they stay without a gift."

About 30 members of the Latin Fantasy Lowrider Club led its yearly Christmas ruckus on Thursday, spending most of the day distributing toys and candy to the children who sprinted to the stretch of cars looking for what might be their only present of the holiday. Now in its 23rd year, the East End expects the Juguetes Para El Barrio drive, which handed out 3,500 toys and candy bags to Houston families.

"A lot of the kids, they've been around for so long that some of them are already adults, so they bring out their kids," said Shorty Villarreal, who leads the toy drive with his wife and four sons.

Villarreal explained that the tradition has become a bit of a local lore. Families might have heard about the Christmas surprise, but never seen it themselves.

"When we get there, they're always surprised that you actually made it to their neighborhood," he said.

One toy per child

The routine at each stop is similar: The constable's deputies' vehicles awaken the neighborhood with their piercing sirens. Startled young children begin a chase toward the trudging Chevy Stepside carrying the gifts, egged on by the volunteers standing in the trunk who wave and ask the eager kids to follow them to the corner.

The caravan stops, and the gift-giving begins. Over the course of a three-minute stop, boys trample the truck's driver's side. Girls trample the passenger's. "Merry Christmas!" says one volunteer as she hands a lime-green skateboard to one boy. "Feliz Navidad!" another says as kids walk away with bags of Cheetos.

Then a woman's finger lifts and twirls in the air. The cars are off.

That pace affords pajama-clad children little time to decide whether the gift meets their liking, beyond whether the present comes from the toy-gun-stuffed boys' crate or the all-pink girls' crate.

"One toy per kid - if they don't like the toy, they can't be picky because we have a lot of kids to get to," explained Shorty's son, Nicholas.

The Villarreal family and the club, which meets and bonds over an affinity for lowriders, raise money throughout the year at car shows and then spend the proceeds on the gifts. "This is our Christmas," explained Nicholas.

Building camaraderie

They also have some help from Harris County Constable Precinct 6, which provides a detail that keeps the caravan in check. Sgt. Ruben Sorola, a deputy constable at the head of the line of cars, said it was an opportunity for police to build the relationships with the community that can prevent social unrest.

"It's good to have this camaraderie between the community, the people, the Lowrider Club. Everybody comes together so we don't have issues like they do in Ferguson," he explained.

Sorola's team also helped choose the neighborhoods that needed the most help and would most appreciate a Latin Fantasy stop.

"These are the ones that probably don't get a Christmas, and if they do, it's one toy or whatever their parents can afford," Nicholas said. "Seeing their smiles and coming to get a toy - that's everything right there."