Community Groups’ Wish Lists
* The Los Angeles County / USC Medical Center needs new toys that Santa Claus can deliver Christmas morning to the seriously ill children in the Adopt-a-Family program. Information: (323) 226-6945.
* Amigos, a mentoring program for children ages 7 to 14, is asking for 50 food baskets and 100 gifts for the children and their families. Most of the kids are being raised without fathers, and half of the mothers are struggling to provide basic necessities. The kids in the Amigos program are on a waiting list for a Big Brother, which can take up to two years. Information: (213) 251-9800.
* Child SHARE, which recruits and supports foster and adoptive families through churches and parishes, wants to give each child a bag of gifts at its Dec. 13 Christmas party. Ages range from newborn to 18. Information: (818) 957-4452.
* Why not give the gift of music to at-risk youths for the holidays? The Music for HOPE foundation needs to buy instruments, repair parts, care kits and accessories. Participating in music programs builds self-esteem for these kids. Information: (702) 880-7900.
* St. Anne’s Residential Program provides shelter and services for pregnant teens and teen parents and their babies. St. Anne’s holiday wishes include donations of the following: nightgowns, pajamas, bathrobes, sweatshirts and sweatpants, oversized T-shirts, sweaters and jackets, maternity clothes, slippers, school and art supplies, totes, backpacks and pocketbooks, blank cassette tapes, layette sets, strollers, teething rings, rattles and newborn toys, crib mobiles, ethnic dolls, infant and toddler clothing, bibs, blankets, crib bedding sets, picture frames and albums, hair care supplies, makeup and umbrellas. Items should be new and unwrapped. Information: (213) 381-2931, Ext. 230. Used items can be donated to St. Anne’s Thrift Shop, 11102 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood.
* El Nido Family Centers needs food and gifts for the low-income families in its program. The centers provide counseling, parent education and service coordination to nearly 19,000 children and parents, including teen parents, abused and neglected children and youths headed for school failure and criminal behavior. Their list of wishes includes rattles, stacking toys, bath toys, board games, crayons and coloring books, Legos, toy cars, dolls, puzzles, blocks, music and food gift certificates for older kids and new or used children’s books. Information: Alexx Tobeck, (818) 896-7776, Ext. 224.
* Five Acres, a therapeutic treatment center for abused, neglected and abandoned children, which also provides residential treatment and foster care, wishes for the following items for the holidays: dolls, jewelry, videos, Barbies, board games, stuffed animals, hair care products, art sets, virtual reality pets or babies, watches, play kitchen sets, stamp and stationery sets, in-line skates, helmets and pads, Game Boys, radios, balls, boogie boards, baseball gloves, basketballs, footballs, action figures, Nike shirts and clothes, baseball caps, cassette players, CD players, sports cards, framed sports pictures, wireless remote-control cars, bikes, gift certificates to sports stores, a TV, a VCR, a stereo, and Sega and Nintendo systems. Information: Jackie Geary, (626) 798-6793, Ext. 244.
* The Westside Children’s Center hopes Santa will bring: loving foster parents, a new building to provide free child care for low-income families, a PR expert to recruit foster parents, metal shelving to store donated items, new Pentium computers to run updated software, a video camera, cameras, cassette players, car seats, infant and toddler clothing, layettes, companies to distribute foster care brochures with employee paychecks, air time / advertising space to find foster parents, CPR training mannequins, American Heart Assn. CPR books, Red Cross first-aid training books, Spanish translating services and training scholarships. Information: (310) 390-0551.
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More holiday wishes will appear in Southern California Living on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.