A Christmas for Children From Low-Income Families

The foyer of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles echoed Thursday afternoon with the cheerful sounds of children exclaiming, “Look what I got! Look what I got!”

The students, all from low-income families throughout the county, received coats, shoes and toys and participated in a huge party that included a lunch of hot dogs and pasta and a special performance by some of the cast members of “Showboat.”

The Christmas party and presents were arranged by County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and the Variety Club, a children’s charity.

Variety Club is sponsoring a campaign to get coats and shoes to the 1,000 children who were identified by school officials as in need of such items. The charity was able to collect enough shoes for the children, but by Thursday was able to give out only 350 coats.

Variety officials say they will continue to collect donations of money or coats until they have met the goal.

Victoria Chandler, 7, and her 4-year-old brother, Elijah, both students at Caldwell Elementary School in Compton, were among the children who participated in the party.

“This is fun! And they gave us free food,” Victoria said as she took care of Elijah, who had bitten his tongue because he was eating too fast.

She squealed when she received her Christmas presents from Variety: a new pair of white shoes, a black jacket and a fuzzy white toy monkey. But she grew concerned when she found out that her brother would not be getting his gifts until later; the charity had run out of presents.

“I’ll give my presents back if he doesn’t get any,” Victoria told her teacher.

Donations to the Variety Club’s coats and shoes campaign should be sent to: P.O. Box 48914, Los Angeles, CA 90048.