A Close- Up Look At People Who Matter : A Great Santa’s Helper--Just Ask His ‘Elves’

To Gary Mueller, George Annino has been a friendly “pain in the side” for a good 14 years. To Patti Mannarino, Annino is a saint.

And neither of them would want Annino--who runs Santa Comes to Agoura--any other way. “I just can’t believe all the work he does,” said Barbara Bomyea of West Hills, who will donate about 100 toys for delivery by Annino this year.

Annino shrugged off the credit for the program that over the last 15 years has fed hundreds of needy families during the holidays. “This is only successful due to teamwork,” he said. “Without teamwork, it doesn’t fly. It doesn’t work.”

But those who work with him said that Annino is their inspiration. “We’re just his little elves,” said Mannarino, an Agoura Hills parent who got to know Annino through a program at her children’s school.

Each year, Annino collects from local schools lists of families who need help. Knowing only first names and street addresses, he and other volunteers deliver boxes of food and toys.

“It doesn’t matter,” Annino said he tells the families when they ask who their benefactor is. “But when you get back on your feet, just help out the next person.”

Annino said he has made deliveries to homes shared by senior citizens who were living on cans of pet food.

On a visit to Brookside Elementary in Oak Park, Annino listened as a group of student-council students reported on the $48.50 they raised for a homeless shelter in Downtown Los Angeles.

“He told them he was so impressed and so proud of what they had done that Santa Comes to Agoura would give them $100 to mail in,” student council adviser Debbie Cooper said.

“That’s when I said to myself, ‘This is a generous person,’ ” Cooper said. “Their mouths just dropped to the floor.”

Mueller, the owner of Gary’s Auto Parts on Kanan Road in Agoura Hills, remembers the reactions of the families when he made his first deliveries with Annino 14 years ago. “I think I blushed more than a little bit,” said Mueller, whose business is a drop-off point for donated food. “It was a neat moment to see those kids’ eyes.

“His heart is definitely in the right place,” Mueller said. “His family brought him up right. Everybody loves him even though he can be a pain in my side.”

Mueller said Annino can sometimes get too wound up, trying to do too much. But a big part of Annino’s motivation is family.

Annino, 54, had considered quitting this year, but then his grand-niece developed a brain tumor. Annino prayed that if the girl lived he would continue the Santa program. The non-cancerous tumor was removed safely. “God kept his end of the bargain and I kept my end,” Annino said.

But his other motivation is his father, Frank, who died three years ago. Growing up in Brooklyn, Annino said he learned from his hard-working father that family and neighbors look out for each other.

Today, when Annino, a retired restaurateur who works part time at Trader Joe’s, is in a room full of grateful children, he said he can feel his father’s presence and know that he’s happy.

“That’s my reward,” Annino said.

For more information on Santa Comes to Agoura, leave a message at (818) 991-1732.

Personal Best is a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please send suggestions on prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax it to (818) 772-3338 .