Countywide : Inmates Give Santa Some Help

For three weeks, convicted drug dealers and robbers pretended they were elves in Santa’s workshop. Hunched over workbenches in a rustic brown building, the 125 inmates of Los Pinos Conservation Camp--a minimum-security institution for troubled youths--sawed, carved and painted wooden cars, turtles, elephants and whales.

On Thursday they were finished, and the group handed over 150 wooden toys to the Orange County Fire Department to help resupply Operation Santa Claus, a volunteer effort that distributes gifts to needy Orange County children.

“I felt like I was one of Santa’s helpers,” said Rudy, 17, of Garden Grove, who was convicted five months ago of robbing a motorist at gunpoint.

Los Pinos, which is run by the Orange County Probation Department, is located about 25 miles east of San Juan Capistrano on the site of an old Juaneno Indian village. Nestled in the rugged backcountry, the camp offers inmates a pleasant setting for classes, counseling and vocational training.

Camp director John Bowater says that many of the young people sent to Los Pinos have been involved with drugs or street gangs. Some spoke to The Times on Thursday on condition that their last names not be used.

George Attig, a wood shop teacher at the camp, came up with the idea of making Christmas gifts and enlisted everyone in the effort. Within three weeks, 150 items were completed.

“It’s been a terrific life experience for them,” said Roy Gray, principal of Los Pinos High School, located on the campgrounds. “Some of them have taken from the community and this made them know how good it feels to give back.”

Andrew, 17, of Orange, who still must serve five months of a 10-month sentence for assault and armed robbery, said carving the wooden toys was difficult and took a long time.

“But in the end,” he said, “it made me feel all right. I know kids who don’t have families and that’s not nice, especially at Christmas. Everyone should share in the fun.”

Another camp inmate, Alvaro, 16, of Santa Ana, says he knows what it’s like to be forgotten for Christmas. The young man, who left war-torn Nicaragua with his mother almost three years ago, was homeless when he was caught selling cocaine on a Santa Ana street corner earlier this year.

“When I was a kid, no one made anything for me,” Alvaro said. “So I feel sorry for the kids who have nothing. I don’t want them to feel how I felt.”

The group of youths later stashed the toys in large garbage bags and loaded them on a pickup truck from the Orange County Fire Department. It was accompanied to the camp by a fire engine. Capt. Rick Robinson says he was touched by the youths’ gesture.

Operation Santa Claus “needs all the help it can get,” Robinson said. “This is real special because you’ve made Christmas more enjoyable for a lot of poor kids. Thank you.”

As the trucks pulled out of the camp, Alvaro went up to some of the remaining visitors and said, “The children who are getting the toys, please wish them a merry Christmas for me, and tell them to do the right things. Tell them to stay out of here.”

Meanwhile, volunteers at Operation Santa Claus offices in Orange received scores of other contributions in the wake of news reports that called attention to the program’s shortage of gifts.

“It’s looking better,” said Joanne Noyes, who coordinates the program. “And I’m feeling better.”