Angel Trees, Mail Collections May Be Army’s Salvation

As the parade of shoppers moves through the first level of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a few people stop to look at a tall Christmas tree decorated with hundreds of paper angels. The angels come in only two styles: boys and girls. At the bottom of each is a perforated tag that lists a child’s first name, age and clothes size.

An occasional shopper asks questions of a uniformed woman sitting nearby, then chooses an angel from the tree. The woman gives the shopper the perforated tag and files the paper angel into a box. An hour or two later, or perhaps in a few days, the shopper returns with gifts for the child and takes home the angel as a Christmas tree or mantle decoration.

The tree in the Galleria is the Salvation Army’s “Angel Tree,” begun locally last year as a way of adapting to the transfer of holiday shoppers from street-entry stores to those in malls. Traditionally, much of the money spent by the Salvation Army during the holiday season comes from its 95-year-old Christmas kettle program. But the familiar uniformed bell ringers are not welcome in most malls.

Gemco Closings Hurt

John Purdell, 54, commanding officer of the army’s San Fernando Valley Corps, said that just one Valley shopping center, the Panorama Mall, permits a bell ringer and kettle on its premises. Another blow to the kettle operation, added the English-born Purdell, is the recent sale of the chain of Gemco stores.

“This will be our last Christmas with them,” he said. “Their five Valley stores have been very important locations for us.”

But Purdell, a tall, gray-haired man with a childlike earnestness, is not worried. He and his wife, Arrie, 53, were assigned to the Valley corps in 1983. Both auxiliary captains in the army, they practice faith.

“I don’t want to sound like a religious fanatic,” he said, “but we are a charitable organization, and we believe that God will provide the funds to do our work whether we’re in the malls or not. We believe in prayer. A lot of fund raising is done on our knees.”

A fresh idea or two doesn’t hurt, either. Purdell heard about the angel tree from a Salvation Army corps in Tulsa. The program appeals to mall operators and merchants because there is no bell ringing and because many of the gifts are bought in the mall itself. A donor may buy a child one gift or many. Last year about 2,500 presents went to 875 Valley children, Purdell said. He has signed up 1,000 children for this year’s tree.

“We have no difficulty finding the children,” he said. “They know about us, and they come to us. Most of them are welfare families or unemployed families. Our center’s primary responsibility is for the homeless and the needy poor.”

The Salvation Army is a Protestant organization. Its members call themselves soldiers and sign “articles of war,” pledging to fight misery and sin. Purdell has a big bass drum that he delights in pounding.

From its Van Nuys headquarters, the Valley corps runs continuing programs that include a Sunday-night dinner for about 100 people, a Friday-night van trip that takes sandwiches and soup to about 150, and distribution each month of about 700 emergency food boxes, containing about a week’s supply for a family of four. Purdell said the army buys some of the food; some is donated by the public, and some comes from the federal government’s surplus-commodities program.

Gifts of food baskets from the public increase during the holidays, he said. Some groups, such as the employees of Mervyn’s Department Store in Northridge, are regular contributors. A representative at Mervyn’s said 14 large boxes are being filled this season.

Other contributions also increase at year’s end. One recent morning Purdell stood wondering what to do with 2,000 coffee cups that formerly were gathering dust on the shelves of a store. The cups were inscribed with first names that long have gone out of fashion--Dexter, Iva, Abigail and Franz.

“Know any Alvins?” Purdell asked with a laugh. “You can invite them to our bazaar.”

Mailed Requests Effective

Purdell said the Valley corps’ income in 1985 was $450,000, more than half of it coming from frequent direct-mail appeals run by a divisional office in Los Angeles. Salvation Army thrift stores in the Valley help finance the organization’s two local alcohol recovery houses and are a separate operation.

“I’m grateful for the mail appeal,” Purdell said of his budget’s main source of income, “but I think it’s done a little too often. I think it would be more effective and perhaps not put off people if it was done less often.”

Helen Ridgewell, assistant director of development at the divisional office, said mail solicitations are sent every January, March, May, August and November, with additional appeals contained in newsletters each February and September. Previous donors and prospective new ones receive the appeals, she said.

Christmas kettle contributions totaled $65,000 last year, Purdell said, and about $12,000 of it was paid to bell ringers. The workers earn minimum wage. Judy Carlson, 47, of Sun Valley, was a kettle worker for 20 holiday seasons before she took over the angel tree this year.

“Right when I became a soldier in the Salvation Army, I had a friend--Clara Lynch--who did the Christmas kettle,” Carlson remembered. “That year, on Christmas Eve, she was coming home from ringing the bell and she passed away. I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll pick up the reins where she left off.’ ”

‘Poor Supporting the Poor’

Carlson calls the kettle an instance of “the poor supporting the poor,” explaining, “That’s what I’ve noticed over the years. People who have never been in need will just walk by and not drop anything in, because they don’t know what it is to be needy.”

The first Christmas kettle was the brainchild of a Salvation Army captain in San Francisco who, like Purdell, once had been a British seaman. Purdell said 20 to 25 kettles and bell ringers will be spread throughout the Valley this year. Previous Christmases have seen as many as 30 or more.

Elizabeth Knapp, marketing director of Sherman Oaks Galleria, explained her reluctance to admit bell ringers.

“There was a court decision that makes it difficult, if you let one charitable solicitation in, to turn down the others. And there are some groups that you really don’t want in the mall, like the ones that shave their heads and chant.” The angel tree is “totally different, because they’re not asking for donations,” she said.

According to at least one industry authority, however, the relevant court decision often is misstated by mall operators. Rex Hime, executive director of the California Business Properties Assn., said PruneYard Shopping Center vs. Robins subjects California malls to a standard even more permissive than the let-one-in, let-all-in rule often quoted by operators. The association, based in Sacramento, is the lobbying arm for more than 300 malls and shopping centers.

Mall Near San Jose

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a California Supreme Court decision that the state had a right to require that the PruneYard, a mall in Campbell near San Jose, serve as a public forum, although the mall could impose reasonable rules and regulations.

“It means you cannot prohibit charitable groups or political groups from any open areas if they meet certain reasonable standards,” Hime said.

Most recently, malls and political groups have argued over what constitutes a “reasonable” liability insurance requirement. Purdell said, however, that his policy is to withdraw his requests to place Christmas kettles if they meet with the slightest resistance.

“I have never pushed it. The 13th Chapter of First Corinthians says, ‘Love seeks not its own way,’ which we take to mean not pushing it even if there is a right. We don’t believe it’s gracious. If we’re not welcome, we’d rather go somewhere else, even though I think the Christmas kettle adds something to a store or a shopping center. It adds a touch of nostalgia. People’s hearts are touched.”

Kettles Welcomed

Panorama Mall in Panorama City is one place that does welcome the Salvation Army.

“It’s something we’ve always done and something we’re always going to do,” said Mary Williams, the mall’s general manager. “It’s a tradition. We’ve never had a problem. We wanted their tree, too, but couldn’t get it, so the Red Cross is doing one like it with us.”

Purdell said he has limited the angel tree to one location to preserve its uniqueness. A staff member is on hand from noon to 8 p.m.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Purdell said, as the tree was set up.

The paper angels rustled like leaves as the tree was straightened. Unlike the dusty, unwanted coffee cups, the angels carried names you hear every day. Maria, John, Robert, Kate--all waiting silently for their personal Santa to come along.