"There's a squirrel out there stealing the Easter eggs. He's popping open the eggs, taking the chocolate and throwing away the quarter and the egg," says Ina Tanner.

Tanner was among a group of Almaden volunteers who went to the EMQ Children and Family Services Campbell headquarters last week for an Easter party held for children being cared for by the non-profit agency.

The children who are placed with EMQ reside at one of the service's campuses while receiving treatment and counseling for behavioral, social or mental health disturbances.

The volunteers had placed two Hershey's Chocolate Kisses and a 25-cent piece in each of the plastic eggs. The eggs were hidden on the grounds of the campus for the children to seek and find during the party.

While the children were inside getting their faces painted or coloring hard-boiled Easter eggs, one of the resident squirrels was getting to the eggs before the kids and was seen scampering up a tree, egg in mouth. Moments later the egg and the quarter fell to the ground.

Carly Mitchell, an EMQ employee, later found the foil wrappings of the chocolate littering the grass near the tree.

Undaunted, the children carried on coloring eggs, or standing in line to meet the balloon man who sent them on their way with a balloon character or object of their choice. One teenaged girl stood holding her red balloon twisted into a flower-shape with a green stem while watching some of the other children decorate sugar cookies, donated by Unicorn's neighbor Charlie Major of Charlie's Cheesecake Works, with icing and sprinkles.

Cellophane wrapped and ribbon-decorated boxes waited for the children on a table nearby.

Tanner, Sharon Colburn, president of the thrift shop, and several other volunteers, including Nancy Drodvillo, Joann Guglietti, Lorie Rizzo and Julia Starling, helped coordinate the party or put together the 40 gift boxes.

Tanner began collecting items for the boxes months ago. The stuffed animals and books, along with other donations to the shop such as wallets or coin purses, decks of cards, sunglasses, traveling games, flashlights and candy, were piled into the boxes.

Boxes were individualized according to age and gender and each child received new toothbrush, comb, soap, and a $25 gift card to Target.

Rizzo, who recently retired, said this was her first year attending the Easter party and says she believes she got as much enjoyment out of it as the kids.

"It's special to be here and see what we're working for at the shop," she says.

The Unicorn Thrift Shop, run by the Almaden League of EMQ, collects donated items and resells them in the store located on Redmond Ave and Almaden Expressway. The proceeds of all sales go to support EMQ, a nonprofit private provider of children's mental health and social services.

Earlier this month several of the shop's volunteers attended a luncheon and toured EMQ's Los Gatos campus where they learned about the agency's century-old services and evolution.

The Unicorn Thrift Shop is located at 1181 Redmond Ave. and is always looking for more volunteers or donations. For more information, call 408.997.9188.