ORANGE : Santa Visits Children at Together Center

His cotton-candy beard was an obvious fake. But the delighted children who attended Thursday’s Christmas party at the Orange Children and Parents Together center didn’t care a whit about the quality of Santa’s whiskers as they clambered, one by one, into his overstuffed lap to whisper Christmas wishes in his ear.

Visits from Santa have become an annual affair for the 3- to 5-year old children in the center’s Head Start Program, thanks to the year-round efforts of the members of the Itty Bitty Doll Club, a group of 16 or so Orange County doll collectors who stockpile donations of toys and gifts to give to the children at a Christmas party they organize for the government-funded agency.

Dr. Dann Reas, an Anaheim chiropractor and an amateur magician who performs at various charity events, provided the entertainment for this year’s party.

Manny Torrez, a vice president in charge of loan administration at El Dorado Bank in Orange, volunteered to play Santa after hearing about the party from Jody Cooper, doll club treasurer.

Torrez, who speaks English and Spanish, found his command of the language useful in view of the fact that 84% of the nearly 250 children enrolled in the center’s day-care, preschool and Head Start programs are Latino.

The average family income for the children who attend the Head Start Program is $8,000 a year, officials said. Many of the families get by on incomes in the $3,000 to $4,000 range, however, and most have anywhere from four to nine children.

Darleen Cordova, president of the Itty Bitty Doll Club and city clerk for the city of Stanton, said Stanton city employees have adopted one of the center’s needy families.

The employees of El Dorado Bank set up a “money tree” at the bank to help another family fulfill its Christmas wish list of food, blankets and a home heater.

So far, more that $1,000 has been collected, according to Cooper, who organized the “adoption.”