Temple Brings Christmas to Needy Families

In a cramped one-bedroom apartment in one of the poorest sections of Santa Ana, Guadalupe Pineda’s family of eight will open a small mountain of Christmas presents on Christmas, gifts that they couldn’t afford on their own.

“Normally, a lot of us wouldn’t get presents at all,” said Pineda’s 16-year-old son, Israel. “We only have enough money for the little kids.”

The gifts--clothes and plates, kites and stuffed animals--arrived last week via an unlikely version of Santa Claus: the congregants of an Irvine synagogue. For the last 10 years, members of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot have played St. Nick to the needy in Santa Ana, and this Christmas they provided presents, food and blankets to 50 families, about double their usual number.

“It’s not that we want to celebrate Christmas,” said Barbara King, coordinator of the temple’s program. “But rather than fighting the holiday or trying to make Hanukkah into a kind of Christmas, which it is not, we decided to participate in the giving spirit of the season.”

Word Gets Around at High School

King is also a special education teacher at Century High School in Santa Ana, where word has gotten around among students and staff that she can help students in need.

“Somehow, they find me,” she said.

Throughout the year, temple members donate items such as sleeping bags, blankets, food and clothing. At Thanksgiving, they delivered turkey dinners and a week’s worth of groceries to 100 families.

But Christmas is when the Reform temple’s congregants really step across religious divides and make sure the mostly Catholic families have a memorable Christian holiday.

“It’s a great surprise,” said Pineda, standing in her tiny front room, which is decorated with pictures of her children and Jesus Christ on the wall and a small white artificial Christmas tree in the corner. “I didn’t expect this. I’m very happy.”

Reaching Out to Poor Communities

Jean Marcus, a 68-year-old former nun who is a member of both the temple and a Catholic parish, rounded up eight friends from her gym. They took eight kids on a Christmas shopping spree at K-mart, spending about $100 per child.

“They each had a picture of the child in their hand, so when they walked into the store, they said, ‘You’re my boy!’ ” Marcus recalled. “They then took them by the hand and went shopping.”

The Christmas program started after the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, when Rabbi Bernard King, Barbara’s husband, decided that his temple should reach out to the poorer communities of Orange County. And his wife came up with the idea of matching up congregants with Latino students from Santa Ana schools, some who live below the poverty line and sleep in garages or in cars.

King said the students who come forward, like Israel, rarely ask for anything themselves--even Christmas presents.

“Israel made sure his whole family was taken care of,” King said. “These kids want things like new clothes for their mother and blankets for their brothers and sisters.”

Israel received a folding bed and gift certificates.

Noemi Maldonado, a 17-year-old senior, asked for blankets and clothes this Christmas for her ailing grandfather in Tijuana.

“Ms. King doesn’t care who you are. If you ask for something, she’ll help you,” Noemi said. “She’s like family.”

The experience gives the students a greater confidence about themselves and their future, King said.

“This is the way they can contribute to the family--do their part,” King said. “We’ve really seen people blossom.”

Marcus and her husband, Daniel, helped an extended family of 21 in Santa Ana for 2 1/2 years until they didn’t need the assistance.

“They were able to make it on their own,” she said. “You bond with them and help them out of some temporary circumstance.”

King said she estimates about 80% of the families who are helped by the temple are “making real progress toward self-sufficiency.”

“I do it for the hugs,” she said. “People are beaming and crying and tell me, ‘I can’t believe someone would help us.’ ”

Rabbi King, who retired from the temple this year, also visits the families, often giving them a mini-history lesson about Jewish immigrants in America. He tells them that many Jews came to this country very poor but through charity were able to begin a successful new life.

“Someday,” he told Israel, “you’ll be in the position to help other people, just like we are helping you now.”