Late Donations Help Charities Meet Goals

Thanks to last-minute support, Ventura County charities were able to overcome early fund-raising snarls and managed to meet their goals to help hundreds of families this holiday season.

But the Oxnard-Port Hueneme Salvation Army Corps had to dip heavily into its resources, spending $15,000 to provide food and toys to a targeted 500 families, Lt. Fred Morasky said. Corps officials in Oxnard were forced to turn away 15 to 20 additional families who asked for help Christmas Eve because of a shortage of supplies on hand, he said.

On a positive note, however, the Oxnard corps made its holiday fund-raising goal of $60,000. Morasky said “little givers” came through with loads of small change in the last days of the campaign.

Other area Salvation Army officials also reported meeting Red Kettle goals, despite initial problems in obtaining permission to put the kettles at various retail locations. But officials won’t have a complete picture of their 1995 budget for a couple of months, until results from a mail-in appeal and canned food drive are tabulated.

Marine Corps officials were concerned for a time about the local Toys for Tots drive when they found themselves 9,000 toys short a few days before Christmas.

Marine Staff Sgt. John Hendrix said $11,000 raised by the K-HAY radio station in Ventura plus a flurry of last-minute donations enabled the corps to meet its goal of 38,000 toys.

Many of the toys went to the Ventura County Rescue Mission, which had its biggest toy giveaway ever. Executive Director Jerry Roberg said the mission gave toys to 2,700 youngsters this year compared with 700 last year, and fed Christmas meals to as many as 12,000 people.

Meanwhile, Ventura County United Way officials said they had received $659,639 in pledges toward a 1995 goal of $1.4 million.

“So far, we are off to a great start,” said Bob Quist, United Way’s Conejo Valley volunteer chairman.