Thanks to All

The true spirit of the Christmas season was felt and appreciated by thousands of clients of the Department of Social Services through the generosity of San Diego County individuals, businesses, employee groups, churches, military and civic organizations.

Without the community’s support and thoughtfulness, many of the families would have had a bleak Christmas. It was especially gratifying to see people of ordinary and extraordinary means so generously share what they have with people temporarily unable to provide for all of their own needs. The generosity touched all facets of our client population.

Once again we extend our thanks to the Salvation Army for its cooperation with our staff in providing food, toys and other essentials to 2,400 client families. Our staff took the time to identify the families with the greatest needs and referred them directly to the Salvation Army. These families were contacted and helped by the Salvation Army just before Christmas through its Christmas Bureau and the Adopt-a-Family program.

The Toys for Tots program sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at Camp Elliott made toys available to nearly 1,000 families. This program allows the parents to give the gifts to their children from themselves or from Santa Claus, as they wish. Of course, this program depended entirely upon the generosity of San Diego County citizens for donations of toys.

On behalf of the entire staff of the Department of Social Services, I would like to express my sincere thanks for the community’s generosity.

RANDALL C. BACON Director, County Department of Social Services