GARDEN GROVE : Drive for Needy Families Underway

City employees have formed a voluntary and coordinated adopt-a-family program for giving to needy residents this holiday season.

The goal of the group drive is to avoid duplication while also focusing on specific needs and requests from poor residents, officials said.

The drive’s centerpiece is a paper Christmas tree that went up in the employee lounge in City Hall on Thursday.

It has the names of 15 needy families displayed in the form of paper ornaments.

Employees are adopting the families and will buy food, clothes and other gifts for them.

Within a day, 11 of the 15 families had been adopted by one or more employees.

Each of the families included in the drive is below the official poverty line, City Manager George Tindall said.

They have all indicated things they need, which were listed on the back of the ornaments.

Members of the families are also registered through the Joint Training Partnership Act, a federal program that provides training and education for unemployed people who are trying to improve their situations, Tindall said.

After selecting the family they wish to help, city employees take wrapped and tagged gifts to employees in the recreation office, who bring them to the Public Works Department for delivery to the family’s home.

There are also other options that include collection of non-perishable food as well as gift certificates funded by employee cash donations.

Clothing collection bins have also been set up at City Hall for residents of the Buena Clinton neighborhood.

“Everyone is being stretched,” said Cal Rietzel, manager of the community services department and coordinator of the holiday gift program.

“It’s tough when people are out of jobs and have children, especially this time of year.”