Salvation Army to conduct gift drive

Nov. 9, 2015 8:53 AM PT

The Burbank Salvation Army Community Center will again conduct its Angel Tree Project gift drive this holiday season.

The Angel Tree will be located at the Burbank Town Center, on the third floor near Burlington Coat Factory, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 23. It will be decorated with cardboard angel tags containing information about a child from a family in need and a suggested toy or clothing gift for them.

Donors are asked to purchase a gift suitable for the child’s age, though it does not need to be what is suggested. They are asked to bring the item — unwrapped — to a volunteer at the tree before Dec. 23 so that it can be distributed to the families for Christmas. Families are selected through community centers, social-service programs and other organizations.

The Salvation Army’s Burbank Corps is also seeking volunteers to greet donors and collect the gifts. Two-hour volunteer shifts on weekdays and weekends between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. are available.

To volunteer for an Angel Tree shift or to help pack and distribute boxes, contact Elaine Paonessa at (818) 845-6851. To volunteer to assist with other Salvation Army programs, contact the corps office at (818) 845-7214.

Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @ChadGarland

Chad Garland

Chad Garland covered the city of Burbank and Bob Hope Airport for the Burbank Leader until 2016. Previously, he has covered Arizona’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., for Cronkite News Service and Oregon’s Legislature for the Associated Press. His work investigating questionable veterans’ charities as part of the award-winning News21 national investigative project “Back Home” earned a “Best in Business” award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2013. Before becoming a reporter, he spent more than a decade in various assignments related to national defense. An Illinois native, his first California address was at Marine Corps boot camp in San Diego. He has degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Arizona State University, as well as a diploma from the Army’s Defense Language Institute in Monterey, where he learned to speak Russian.