Santa’s Workshop

Santa Claus has come to town, and he has set up shop at the Tustin Marine base.

More than 100 Southland volunteers bypassed Friday’s throngs at the malls and the endless gift-wrapping lines to do some gift wrapping of their own. These Santa’s helpers gathered at donated spaces in the closed base to sort through thousands of presents for needy children abroad.

“This is the closest thing to Santa’s workshop,” said Mark Josephson, 44, a general contractor from Riverside County. “It is kind of selfish actually, because it is such a blessing for us.”

Operation Christmas Child is a project of the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, based in Boone, N.C. The group collects donated Christmas presents and distributes them to poor children in Third World countries.

Most donations come from the U.S., but gifts, which donors must stuff into shoe-box-size packages, also are collected in Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany and England, where the idea originated.

The processing center in Tustin is expected to ship 150,000 boxes from California families to children in Mexico and Indonesia. Organization officials estimated they will distribute about 4 million presents this year.

“Your heart goes out to these children,” said Josephson as he inspected boxes before putting them on a conveyor belt that slides past other volunteers. “It is what humanity is really supposed to be. Isn’t it?”

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Volunteers like Josephson and his wife, JoAnn, 42, were charged with ensuring the shoe boxes did not contain perishable food, breakables, cash or war-related toys.

“[These are] possibly the only gifts these kids will get this Christmas,” Phyllis Kyker, a staff member with Samaritan’s Purse, told volunteers during orientation. “Sometimes you may get a ‘cold box’ that has toys but not much more. Then you can add what I call ‘warms and fuzzies’ like candy and a Beanie Baby to fill up the box.”

At the processing lines, volunteers were busy stuffing donated “warms and fuzzies” into the shoe boxes before taping, labeling and piling them into larger containers.

“You see the children hugging these boxes, and their faces just light up,” said volunteer Tom Hetman after viewing video footage during orientation. “Those images stay with you.”

Hetman, 54, a truck driver from Monrovia, and his wife, Anna Marie, 49, have been sending boxes through the program for five years.

“We cheat a little,” Hetman said, smiling. “I wear big shoes, so we use my boxes. We also include a picture of me and my wife with our dog, Joe Cocker. We try and make it a little more personal.”

Since the program began in 1993, the nonprofit group has distributed more than 9 million gift-filled shoe boxes to children in 80 countries. The program depends on the generosity not only of the gift givers and volunteers, but on other donations, such as storage and processing space and transportation.

“Everyone has something to give for the children,” said LoRee MacKay, a staff member. “It is wonderful.”

Those interested in donating gifts or their time can call Samaritan’s Purse at (949) 551-4636.