MAKING HEARTS MERRY : In Any Season, Volunteer Work Can Be a Satisfying Family Affair
When I was growing up, my social conscience had two basic parameters: I ate my crusts because Mom said there were children out there who went to bed hungry, and I didn’t toss litter out the car window--not because I wanted to save the planet but to spare myself a scolding from the powers that be in the front seat.
That, plus a few good deeds for Scout badges, and I figured I was set for life.
Today, aided by everything from school curricula to Saturday morning cartoons, children are much more savvy about society’s needs. Just ask them; most kids will cheerfully talk your ear off about their current cause celebre.
But channeling that talk into action can take some guidance, and that’s where parents can help.
According to Dr. Laurence Becker, an Irvine family and child psychologist, parents who are willing to work side by side with their children on a worthy cause are handing down valuable lessons in commitment and generosity that may last a lifetime.
“Giving and sharing can be difficult concepts for children to learn,” Becker said. “Children learn by watching how their parents behave. It’s one thing to say to a child that he needs to share, but if you show him by your own actions . . . that’s a learning activity he will always remember.”
Insurance limitations or safety concerns restrict some organizations from using volunteers younger than 16, but there are plenty of others that welcome help from all ages. A call to the nonprofit Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County is a good first step; the Santa Ana-based center acts as a clearinghouse for volunteers, matching donors’ resources and abilities with appropriate charities. The center recently published a comprehensive directory that lists charitable organizations by city and service.
On April 23, it will sponsor Volunteer Connection Day, an event in which virtually every city in the county is expected to invite residents to participate in a common community project. For details, call the center’s volunteer connection line at (714) 647-2600, or the main office at (714) 953-5757. Or write to the center at 1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Suite 200, Santa Ana.
While the philanthropic spirit tends to soar during the holidays, as Elisabeth Hoskins, the center’s director of volunteer services points out, the need for helping hands doesn’t disappear with the last wad of Christmas wrap. “We’re swamped with calls during the holidays,” said Hoskins. “While we appreciate the goodwill, we wish it would carry on in July, when the food pantries are empty and (the volunteers) have drifted away.”
Following is a small sampling of agencies and individuals that can help your family nurture its giving spirit all year around. Happy holidays.
Share the spirit
As models of generosity go, Santa Claus is near the top of the list. Unfortunately, after Dec. 25, he’s pretty much out of the picture.
In Orange County, however, there’s at least one Santa who’s on the job 12 months a year. Operating through his nonprofit group, Share the Spirit Inc., Santa (a.k.a. Michael Coldwell, but don’t spread it around) grants the wishes of sick and needy children at 50 hospitals and shelters in four states.
Coldwell, 50, first donned a Santa suit 19 years ago and--with just one exception, he says--he has taken no pay for his work since. (Coldwell and a partner run an unrelated business as well.)
Although his schedule is jammed right now, Coldwell’s Santa doesn’t operate on a traditional Yuletide calendar; he says he is as ready in July as he is in December to fill the wish list of an ill child. Businesses and individuals donate the gifts he gives, and he says that any cash given to his program is quickly spent on presents. So far this season, donors have ranged from schoolchildren to the cast and crew of the television sitcom “Bob.” In 1992 alone, he estimates that more than $20,000 in toys and gifts was donated.
Coldwell says he can “find a use for anybody who truly wants to help.” Jobs may include drafting letters from Santa, collecting toys and helping out at his appearances.
“Everybody has a talent to share,” he said. “There’s a gift in everybody; it’s just a matter of finding it.”
Share the Spirit Inc., 12141 Tunstall St., Garden Grove. (714) 892-4320.
Convalescent homes
Going to a birthday party doesn’t seem like a particularly tough volunteer gig, but at the county’s many convalescent hospitals and retirement homes, it’s an important one that is well suited to families, said Barbara Gardner, activity director for Western Medical Center-Bartlett in Santa Ana.
“It would be very special to have a family who would bring in a cake and help with a party” for the residents, Gardner said. “Kids are especially great; the residents really light up when they see children.”
Gardner’s and other area facilities also sponsor an “Adopt a Grandparent” program, in which families are matched with a resident for visits and special celebrations. Help is also needed with recreational and crafts activities, and Gardner hopes to start an inter-generational “Mommy and Me” program in which mothers and babies or toddlers can interact with residents.
The Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County has a list of area convalescent facilities, or you can check your phone directory for one in your area. (Visitation rules vary with each facility, so it’s important to call before you visit.)
Western Medical Center-Bartlett, 600 E. Washington Ave., Santa Ana. (714) 973-1656.
Gleaning
If your kids measure fun by the amount of dirt they get under their fingernails, gleaning should be their idea of a great time.
Through arrangements with local farmers, groups such as Sunshine Outreach and Orange County Harvest pick produce in harvested fields. The food, which commonly includes corn, potatoes, beans and bell peppers, is then given to shelters, soup kitchens and other charities.
The demand for gleaners of all ages is high because of the volume of food available for picking, said Nancy Long, director of Orange County Harvest. For example, Long’s group recently gleaned a field that had already been commercially harvested seven times, and still netted nearly 3,500 pounds of beans. Last year, her group picked nearly 700,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables.
Gleaning is a good choice for children because the results are immediate and tangible, Long noted.
“Kids can pick 20 pounds of beans, and (when) I tell them, ‘This can feed 40 people,’ they can really see the impact they can make on lives,” said Long, who regularly includes families, Scout and school groups among her volunteers. Most gleaning jobs take several hours, but workers are welcomed to stay as long or as little as they like.
Orange County Harvest gleans fields throughout Orange County nearly every Wednesday morning, and on the first Sunday of the month. Volunteers can call to hear a recorded message about the next scheduled gleaning. Sunshine Outreach, which works primarily in South County fields on weekends, has no gleanings scheduled until late March, when volunteers are needed for the group’s annual potato harvest on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base property. Because of base security, preregistration by phone is required.
Sunshine Outreach, 25801 Obrero Drive, Suite 10, Mission Viejo. (714) 837-6199.
Orange County Harvest, 17200 Jamboree Road, Irvine. (714) 833-1846.
Food distribution center
If you think your family empties out a pantry fast, consider the Food Distribution Center’s larder. According to resource manager Joyce Lamm, about 800,000 pounds of food goes out the door to feed some 180,000 needy people, the majority of them senior citizens and children, at local organizations.
For safety reasons, Lamm discourages volunteers younger than 6 years but says there is constant demand for work that can be performed by older children and adults, from assisting with mass mailings of solicitation letters to repacking slightly damaged or bulk goods donated by grocery stores.
Food sorting and boxing takes place at the center six days a week, and volunteers ages 16 and up are needed for the task throughout the year, Lamm said.
The center also provides an informational pamphlet, which families can use to implement neighborhood food drives.
Food Distribution Center, 426-A W. Almond St., Orange. (714) 771-1343.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Although CHOC primarily uses adult volunteers, ages 14 and up can participate in the hospital’s Youth Program, which primarily assists patients with crafts projects and recreational programs.
Volunteers are asked to commit to four or more hours per week and must purchase a uniform. Because of infection control, stringent health requirements may apply to volunteers in selected areas of service.
Some families with entertainment skills have performed in CHOC’s recreation room, but by and large, volunteers under age 16 are discouraged in this area as well.
Young children don’t have to be left out altogether, however. A spokesperson for CHOC’s recreational program suggests that young families organize a neighborhood drive for new craft supplies or toys to be used in the rec room, or solicit donations of these items from merchants. Approval from the hospital’s development office ((714) 532-8690) is required.
Volunteer Services Department at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, 455 S. Main St., Orange. (714) 532-8673.
Habitat for Humanity
This organization uses volunteers in 1,000 communities worldwide to help build affordable housing for low-income families.
Since 1990, the Orange County Habitat project has built 57 homes from Rancho Santa Margarita to Brea. According to administrative director Barbara D’Amore, to qualify to buy a Habitat home (prices average about $60,000), a family must earn no more than half of the county’s median income (about $56,000 for a family of four), and contribute 600 hours of labor to the home’s construction before the close of escrow.
An opportunity to buy a Habitat home can “really break the cycle of poverty,” said D’Amore, and helps the new homeowners “focus on upgrading their (job) skills and having a real family life.”
Adults and children ages 16 and up can help out with the actual construction of the homes (crews receive on-the-job training by volunteer building professionals), while younger children can assist with the preparation and serving of food to crews, volunteer check-in and gofer work. The next local Habitat project will break ground in March in the city of Anaheim.
Habitat for Humanity’s Orange County affiliate is at P.O. Box 7086, Orange, 92613. (714) 639-5557.
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There is much more.
For outdoors types, there’s the Adopt a Park program (21501 Chapman Ave., Orange. (714) 771-6731, Ext. 15), in which volunteers can get some seat-of-the-pants environmental training by beautifying public lands and shorelines managed by the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department.
Sports-minded families can help out with the county’s Special Olympics project (3456 W. Orange St., Anaheim. (714) 995-2225), which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Volunteers ages 15 and up can help train the athletes, who include mentally and physically disabled individuals ages 3 to senior citizens; while younger children can assist at the snack bar at events.
Kids Racing (675 N. Main St., Orange. (714) 544-0648), a nonprofit educational program that incorporates the construction and racing of small Indy-style cars into school math and science curricula, also needs volunteers ages 8 and up to assist at its events.
MORE KID STUFF
IN BUENA PARK: CHILLING OUT AT KNOTT’S
Two hundred and fifty tons of snow frosts Knott’s Berry Farm’s Beagle Hill for your kids’ sledding pleasure every day through Jan. 2. Children must be at least 3 years old and shorter than 5 foot 2 to sled; sleds are provided. Included with park admission: $15.95 to $25.95. (714) 220-5200.
IN ANAHEIM: REAL NATURAL
On Saturday, Dec. 25, from 10 to 11 a.m., Oak Canyon Nature Center hosts a Nature Film Festival, featuring live action and animated films for all ages, and the park’s seven-mile network of trails and hands-on learning center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. (714) 998-8380.
IN COSTA MESA: WINTER DISCOVERY CAMP
Pacific School of Music and the Arts (151 Kalmus St., Suite G-1) offers children ages 3 to 15 a week of age-appropriate art activities, ranging from fairy-tale theater classes to rock music workshops. Sessions run Monday, Dec. 27 through Dec. 31. Fee: $79 to $89. (714) 545-1217.
