Rotary Club Plays Santa to Needy Kids

At first, the children seemed shy and frightened at the prospect of strangers taking them on a shopping spree. But by the end of the trip, the 25 kids were all smiles as they lugged giant bags of clothes, shoes and pants out of the JCPenney store at The Oaks mall.

“It’s fun to get all the stuff,” said Robert Diaz, 8, who used his $165 from the Noon Rotary Club of Westlake Village to buy pants, a jacket and tennis shoes. They were clothes he otherwise would not have gotten this Christmas.

“I think the members get as much out of this as the kids,” said Rotarian Jamie Taylor, 49. “It’s just so fun to see their excitement. We donate a lot of money to scholarships and other things within the communities, but this is one of the rare opportunities we get to see, face to face, the kids who are benefiting.”

The club, which has offered this shopping spree for 13 years, raised more than $4,000, enough to give each kid $165 to spend this Christmas. JCPenney pitched in with a 25% discount.

And before the 9 a.m. shopping spree began, the McDonald’s in The Oaks mall gave each child a Happy Meal.

Interface Children’s Resource in Camarillo, which helps families in need, gave the Rotary Club the names of 25 children whose parents recommended them for the program.

Pauline Garcia, a case manager for Interface, helped Jennifer Plascencia, 12, carry an armload of pants, shirts and underwear as they hit the shoe section.

“If we didn’t give them Christmas, they wouldn’t have this,” Garcia said. “I love to see the children, their happiness, their being able to get something they [otherwise] wouldn’t.”

Resident Hector Diaz, 12, checked racks of clothes before settling on three pairs of pants, two shirts and a jacket.

“People are coming together to help us,” Hector said. “The feeling they’re helping us, it makes Christmas better for us. . . . I wasn’t going to get as much stuff as I was able to.”

Laura Bennette, 24, an executive assistant who works for one of the Rotarians, helped Wilmer Menendez, 6, shop for new clothes.

At one point, Wilmer got sidetracked, lured by the hypnotic song and dance of a display of Rock ‘n’ Roll Elmo dolls. “You wish there wasn’t a limit,” Bennette said. “You kind of wish you could give them . . . the toys that they want.”