GARDEN GROVE : City Workers Join in Christmas Giving

City employees last week pitched in with Christmas gifts and cash contributions to help make the holidays brighter for nine impoverished families whose adult members are unemployed but trying to find jobs, officials said.

Workers provided 95 wrapped packages in their Adopt a Family program. They also contributed $550 in cash that will be converted to gift certificates for the needy residents.

Employees also contributed 75 bags of used and new clothing and an assortment of canned goods and other grocery items.

Workers also baked 200 dozen cookies for the families.

The clothing and cookies will be distributed in a separate gift-giving program to needy families in the Buena Clinton area of the city.

Cal Rietzel, manager of the city’s department of community services, said the adults in the nine families selected for the Christmas program are enrolled in a federal job training program. There are 26 men, women and children in the families, he said.

“The important thing is that they are trying to help themselves,” Rietzel said.

One of the recipients is a 16-year-old single mother with an 8-month-old baby, Rietzel said. Another is a single parent who lives in a motel with her two teen-age children.

Personnel Services Director Steve Larson said employees, in making their rounds, have encountered increasing numbers of people in need this year.

“There seems to be a lot of feeling among employees that they want to do something for the people,” he said.