Hospital Employees Bring Gifts to Neighborhood
Employees of White Memorial Medical Center will take off their lab coats and put on reindeer antlers today as they conclude a three-day goodwill tour of Boyle Heights neighborhoods, where they are giving away toys, clothing, and shoes to needy children.
The 800 children receiving wrapped gifts are first-graders from area schools who wrote letters to Santa Claus in their classrooms. Teachers chose the neediest among the needy to receive the presents. At each household, all family members get a gift.
The project was started in 1991 by Kathleen Hannah, an emergency room nurse whose dream was to bring Christmas joy into the lives of the needy children in the neighborhood. The toys and other items are collected through a hospital drive.
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