Holiday Shortfall : Donations Fail to Keep Pace With Increase in Needy

The Von der Ahe family spent last Saturday afternoon in their Corona del Mar home wrapping Christmas presents for two needy families. Bo and Cathy Von der Ahe and their four children--Matt, 10; Andy, 9; Danny, 5, and Christy, 3--busied themselves enveloping toys with Christmas paper and bunting.

There were puzzles, dolls, crayons and coloring books, big wheels, miniature construction sets, radios, footballs and chalkboards. These were the toys, Cathy said, that the two indigent families’ three boys and six girls, ranging in age from 6 to 10, would open Christmas morning.

The toys will be distributed to the families by Share Our Selves’ (SOS) Adopt a Family Christmas program. SOS is one of a plethora of charities, social services agencies, churches and other groups seeking to bring holiday cheer to the county’s impoverished.

SOS’s Christmas campaign, Adopt a Family, provides food, clothing and housing to the needy during the holidays, said a spokeswoman for the Costa Mesa volunteer service organization.

‘Giving ... Is Important’

“We think giving toys is important because we know how much joy and delight they bring to our own children on Christmas Day,” Cathy explained.

But Cathy, 37, a homemaker, and Bo, 39, a real estate developer, said they also understand the practical needs of these two families that have fallen on hard times. Thus, they have included a large supply of pants, sweaters and other clothing among their supply of gifts. The ages and sizes of the children were provided by SOS to the Von der Ahes for this purpose.

On Monday morning, the Von der Ahe family, continuing a 7-year-old tradition, will drop off their gifts in the parish hall of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa.

Included will be two baskets filled with turkeys and other kinds of food on which the Von de Ahes themselves will feast on Christmas day.

The Christmas donations will be ferried from this SOS drop-off point by volunteers to poor families, primarily in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, SOS executive director Jean Forbath said. The Von der Ahes and the needy families will never see each other, Forbath said.

“Our participation in Adopt a Family has become a special part of our Christmas celebration,” Cathy said, voicing what spokesmen for charities say commonly motivates people to give to the less fortunate during the holidays. “We’re fortunate. Our Christmas wouldn’t be quite as wonderful if we didn’t give to others who’ve had a rough year.

“Christmas just isn’t the same if parents don’t have anything to give their children. Adopt a Family, by providing gifts that parents hand out themselves, allows these parents who’ve had a rough time of it to share in their children’s delight at having something for Christmas.”

(Those interested in participating in the Adopt a Family program, which is seeking another 150 donors of goods or money to match last year’s record of serving 900 families, may call SOS at (714) 642-3451.)

Throughout Orange County, countless families like the Von der Ahes are donating toys, food, clothing and other items to the needy for Christmas. Despite the best efforts of the county’s charities and social service agencies, spokesmen representing a random sampling of these groups say there rarely is enough collected during their Christmas campaigns to go around to all in need.

Increased Demand Noted

“Every year the county’s residents always come through with amazing generosity with the pledges of money they mail in or by giving during our Christmas kettle campaign,” said Warren Johnson, business manager of the Salvation Army in Orange County, expressing a view shared by spokesmen for many charities. “But the demand for our services this year is up 10% to 15%.”

Charity spokesmen say they’re unusually troubled this holiday season about whether they’ll be able to provide the indigent with a merry Christmas. They cite two factors beyond their control: the supermarket strike and the episodes of unseasonably cold weather that have hit the homeless hard.

“There are so many homeless this year,” SOS’s Forbath said. “They’re sleeping in blankets and sleeping bags between buildings, under bushes in parks and in bus shelters. More than 2,100 homeless came to us last month; 900 of them were children. We’re trying to raise money so at least the children will have a roof over their heads on Christmas Day. I have no idea how much this will cost, but we’ll do our best.”

The 6-week-old supermarket strike has had a devastating effect on the Food Distribution Center serving Orange County, according to executive director Dan Harney. It is run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and is one of the county’s two largest food banks, serving as a food clearinghouse for 179 social service agencies in the county, Harney said.

Shipments Down

“We get most of our food (generally day-old bread and canned foods with dents or without wrappers) free from Lucky or Safeway,” Harney said. “Our shipments were down 10% in November. This month we’ve received only two shipments. The stores just don’t have the manpower to deliver the surplus food to us with the strike (by drivers and others) going on.”

In an effort to replenish the Food Distribution Center’s diminishing supply of food, Harney has had food shipped in from other states by Second Harvest, a national network of food banks. But this interstate shipping has added to costs, and shipments have been but a trickle. Thus, the food bank’s supply of goods remains far below normal, Harney said.

“I just hope and pray that things will get better,” Harney said. “We’ve got over 320,000 people in this county--15% of the population--at risk of going to bed hungry every night, according to the ’80 census.

“We serve 90,000 of these people, so when we don’t have food to give them, that means there’s nothing for them to eat. There’s really no place else where they can get food (because of their lack of knowledge of alternatives or bureaucratic barriers to receiving government food assistance).” (Individuals or companies wanting to donate canned items may drop these foodstuffs off at the Food Distribution Center, 426-A W. Almond Ave., Orange. They also may make cash donations for the purchase of rice, beans and other foods in bulk by calling the center at (714) 771-1343.)

Drive Hampered

“We used to get our food from the Food Distribution Center,” said Catholic Community Agencies spokeswoman Dee Warbington. Warbington said her organization’s Christmas food drive to collect canned vegetables, fruits and meats had been hampered by the Food Distribution Center’s low food supply.

Catholic Community Agencies this holiday season, Warbington said, is depending more on canned food campaigns being conducted by individual churches. (Those wishing to donate canned foods or money may do so at Carpenter’s Hall, 2829 West 1st St., Santa Ana, or by calling (714) 543-3924.)

Also being hurt by the supermarket strike, a spokeswoman said, is the Orange County Community Development Council, which is county government’s official anti-poverty agency. It operates one of the two largest food banks in Orange County.

“We depend on the supermarkets to donate unsalable food, but with the strike, the food supply has just about dried up,” said spokeswoman Linda Gomez. “We used to get a few hundred pounds of baked items a week, but now we get none.”

Thus, the council is depending more than ever on cash donations to buy food for its fifth annual Christmas basket campaign. The council still hopes to meet last year’s record of providing 500 food baskets to the needy.

Where to Make Donations

(Those interested in providing canned foods such as meat, vegetables and fruit, or bakery items, may drop these foodstuffs off at the Community Development Council food bank, 2221 S. Standard Ave., Orange. To make cash donations, which are especially needed to purchase chickens for the Christmas baskets, call (714) 540-9293.)

“Our biggest need is a dry, warm place for people . . . ,” said Mike Elias, executive director of Christian Temporary Housing Facilities. The organization offers short-term housing and food for homeless families at its Orange shelter. The shelter, which serves 4,000 annually, is filled to capacity, Elias said.

For the past few weeks, Elias has been frantically contacting various Orange County churches requesting that they provide temporary shelter in their buildings because all the shelters in both Orange and Los Angeles counties are now filled to capacity.

“The churches have been very sympathetic, but so far none has been willing to open up to the homeless,” Elias said. “So, in the meantime, the homeless live in cars, under bushes in parks or sleep overnight in the waiting room of the (Orange County) jail.”

(Those interested in providing food, housing or money to the homeless may contact the shelter at (714) 771-2969.)

Difficult for Poor

Echoing Elias’ plea for housing for the homeless during the holidays, Warren Johnson, business manager for the Salvation Army in Orange County, said, “It’s really difficult for folks who no longer can hold their heads above water to find shelter in Orange County.”

The Salvation Army’s shelter, Hospitality House, can hold only 50 men and 16 women and children. “With this cold weather we’ve been having, we’ve been pushed to the limit to try to feed and lodge the people who need our help.

“Every niche and corner of the shelter is filled, and people are sleeping on the floor. I put four fellows in a utility van next to the shelter the other night just to get them off the floor.

“Individuals or companies could really help by donating blankets, towels, pillows and sheets--or ‘adopting a family’ for whom to provide food and gifts for Christmas day.” (Donations may be made at the Family Service Christmas Office, 818 East 3rd St., Santa Ana, or by calling (714) 546-7880.)

To augment its holiday fund-raising efforts, the Salvation Army has placed its traditional Christmas kettles at shopping centers, post offices and other high pedestrian locations throughout the county, Johnson said. This Saturday, the Christmas kettles will be manned on a volunteer basis by members of such service clubs as Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions.

Food Vouchers Supplied

Money raised this way will help families buy Christmas baskets, Johnson said. “We give families food vouchers so they can go to a market and shop like they normally would. We supplement their market shopping with donated canned goods, especially canned hams and turkeys. Last year, the largest family was 17, but the average is five per family.”

Last Monday, for the first time, the Salvation Army and Orange County Transit District placed a bus decorated for the holidays in the Transit District’s main terminal at 400 W. Santa Ana Blvd. in downtown Santa Ana, across from the Orange County Hall of Administration. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Tuesday, the 50,000 bus passengers who daily pass through the main terminal will have the opportunity to place food baskets, canned foods and new, unwrapped toys in the Christmas bus, Transit District spokeswoman Claudia Keith said.

The Orange County Indian Center is collecting canned food, non-perishable staple foods and boxed cakes for the 400 Christmas baskets it plans to distribute to indigent Indian and non-Indian families, said spokeswoman Celeste Roubidoux. Turkeys, which serve as the centerpiece of the Christmas baskets, are purchased using money donated to the Indian Center.

(Individuals wanting to make food or money donations may drop them off at the Orange County Indian Center, 12755 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove. Community service groups desiring to make large food donations may call (714) 530-0221, and the donations will be picked up by Indian Center volunteers.)

Home for Children

Orangewood Children’s Home, the county-run home for abused, abandoned and neglected children in Orange, expects to house 150 children Christmas Eve, director Bill Steiner said. The children, ranging in age from three days to 18 years, usually arrive at Orangewood with just the clothes on their backs, Steiner said.

Thus, those wanting to give unwrapped toys, clothing, personal items or small transistor radios for the older children may drop these items off at Orangewood, 401 City Drive South, Orange. Steiner said those wanting to make other contributions, such as cash, may call (714) 634-7187. Similar goods are being sought by Olivecrest Treatment Center, which often receives child placements from Orangewood, assistant executive director Lois Verleur said. The nonprofit Olivecrest Treatment Center handles abused and neglected boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, at 13 licensed group homes.

Olivecrest is seeking canned goods that children would like, such as corn, string beans and fruit, along with canned hams.

(Christmas donations may be dropped off at Olivecrest Treatment Center, 1125 East 17th St., Suite W-244, Santa Ana.)

“Our kids come to us a lot of times with only one outfit, so we really need clothes like underwear, socks and jeans,” Verleur said. “We’re not requesting toys because most of our kids are between (ages) 14 and 16 and have been in three to 15 foster homes. Because of their age and their desperate circumstances, they don’t need toys. They need clothes, food and other necessities. For these kids, that would make their Christmas.”

Charities and Their Holiday Needs

- Save Our Selves Adopt a Family, (714) 642-3451: toys, clothing, canned foods and money to provide Christmas Day housing for families with children.

- Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Food Distribution Center Serving Orange County, (714) 771-1343: canned foods and cash donations to purchase rice, beans and other foods in bulk.

- Catholic Community Agencies, (714) 543-3924: canned foods or money.

- Orange County Community Development Council, (714) 540-9293: bakery items, canned foods and cash donations to purchase chickens for Christmas baskets.

- Christian Temporary Housing Facilities, (714) 771-2969: canned foods, housing or money.

- Salvation Army, (714) 546-7880: housing, bedding, non-perishable food, clothing, toys and money to stock Christmas food baskets.

- Christmas Bus, Orange County Transit District main terminal, 400 W. Santa Ana Blvd.: food baskets, canned foods and unwrapped toys.

- Orange County Indian Center, (714) 530-0221: canned foods, non-perishable staple foods, boxed cakes and money to purchase Christmas basket turkeys.

- Orangewood Children’s Home, (714) 634-7187: unwrapped toys, clothing, personal items and cash contributions.

- Olivecrest Treatment Center, 1125 East 17th St., Suite W-244, Santa Ana: outer and under garments, non-perishable foods and monetary donations.