Real Fun in Fake Snow

Ten-year-old Alma Vasquez and her two younger brothers had tromped around in the snow before on visits to the local mountains. So when a big pile of the white stuff landed on the courtyard outside their unit at a San Fernando Valley homeless shelter, they knew it wasn’t the real thing. But that didn’t matter a bit.

Alma and her brothers, 9-year-old Marco and 6-year-old Emmanuel, were among about 150 children who gathered at the Trudy and Norman Louis Valley Shelter in North Hollywood on Sunday to happily race through 15 tons of manufactured snow for the shelter’s fifth annual pre-Christmas party and toy giveaway.

“It was a perfect day. It was fun,” Alma said, pulling a wad of snow out of her jacket pocket. She and her brothers then raced back to a 10-by-15-yard area of the shelter’s courtyard, which was covered nearly a foot thick, and proceeded to join the other children in pelting each other, staff members and even Santa Claus with snowballs.

“That’s the whole theme behind it, to give these kids a Christmas holiday,” said Jeff Farber, director of social services for the nonprofit L. A. Family Housing Corp., which operates the Valley Shelter and about a dozen other housing facilities for the needy. “For our kids, we sort of have to bring the out-of-town to them,” Farber said.

The day began early with a snow-making machine that ground 600 bags of ice, 50 pounds each, into the ersatz snow. Then the kids from the Valley Shelter and several other L. A. Family Housing Corp. facilities, some of them bused in, lined up with tickets in hand to get toys from Santa Claus. Alma Vasquez came away with a Barbie doll and a big smile.

Santa Claus for the day was Todd Parker, president of Continental Coin and Jewelry Co. in Van Nuys, the company that sponsors the yearly event. Ken Gerston, the company’s chief executive officer, said the snow day began in 1989 with a photographer’s comment that producing snow in the San Fernando Valley would be one sure way to attract media attention.

Saturday, shelter staff members had fretted that the kids’ day might be washed away if the night’s rains had continued into Sunday. But the day dawned with clear blue skies and temperatures just cool enough not to melt the snow too quickly. In past years, the snow has lasted up to several days, staff members said.

Nat Hutton, executive director of the L. A. Family Housing Corp., said the Valley Shelter is the main no-charge homeless shelter in the San Fernando Valley, with about 80 units serving families and individuals.

Farber estimated that the Valley has a homeless population of 5,000 to 10,000 people.

Last Sunday, a group of Universal Studios employees hosted a barbecue luncheon and gift giveaway for the children at the shelter, which consists of a refurbished old motel and a newer building. During the coming week, Farber said the shelter, home to up to 250 people, will distribute Christmas gift bags to its children containing other donated goods.