Countywide : Cities’ Holiday Wishes Listed in Gift Catalogues

City gift catalogues don’t feature a cutting board with cheeses or a basket filled with jams and jellies. But they do feature park benches, pool tables, swimming lessons and an array of equipment.

As Christmas and Hanukkah approach, cities across Orange County hope to “pick up on that spirit of giving” with purchases from such catalogues, said Jim Soto, Placentia Recreation and Human Services Department director.

Several cities, such as Placentia, Buena Park and Westminster, have catalogues from which residents can pick out gifts for their cities and its agencies.

In Anaheim, city officials put aside the gifts catalogue idea about three years ago in exchange for a “more sophisticated program” through an inventory of corporations, a list of what the companies have donated in the past and the names of corporate contacts, said Chris Jarvi, Anaheim parks, recreation and community services director.

Other cities also have targeted businesses and individuals via their catalogues.

In Placentia, for example, the 2 1/2-year-old catalogue effort has brought in about $20,000 in gifts, Soto said. The strangest gift was $1,000 cash, with an anonymous letter asking that the money be used “to help a needy family,” Soto said.

Buena Park residents also can sponsor youngsters in programs and purchase equipment through a “gifts of love” catalogue, Buena Park Recreation Department Director Don Snavely said. Of approximately $70,000 raised in the catalogue’s two-year existence, most of the money went to the city’s Senior Center, Snavely said.

In Westminster, the emphasis isn’t on money but on services, said Sam Migliazzo, city community services and recreation director. While residents of Buena Park have contributed $5,000 to $10,000 in the past two years, they also have volunteered countless hours to deliver meals for senior citizens and coach youth basketball, among other activities, Snavely said.

Anaheim has had two gift catalogues, Jarvi said, but the city changed its format because the pamphlets became “out of date very rapidly.” And the new emphasis on targeting corporations has proven profitable. While the catalogues netted the city about $27,000, the corporate inventory has raised about $100,000 for parks and recreation programs in the past year, Jarvi said.

Having already logged all local businesses into their inventory, Anaheim now is working to establish contacts across the county, Jarvi said. The year-end season is a good time for those contacts, he said, as businesses determine whether they had a profitable year and thus should make tax-deductible donations.

“The percentages are probably a little bit higher right now,” Jarvi said.

In Buena Park, on the other hand, spring proves to be the most profitable as businesses at that time prepare their fiscal year budgets, Snavely said.

Pointing to a Kiwanis Club Christmas Eve dinner for senior citizens, among other clubs’ programs, Migliazzo of Westminster said that this month and next will be a time of volunteering and gift-giving--”There’s kind of a heart-tugging and heartwarming season coming up.”