Society

Joyce Rudolph

Volunteers are needed to help deliver holiday baskets filled with gift

certificates, canned goods and toys to families through the Burbank

Coordinating Council’s Holiday Basket Program planned for Saturday, Dec.

18.

More than 1,000 families will receive baskets this year, said Pat

Gunn, holiday basket chairwoman.

Local families are selected through the Burbank Unified School

District. The baskets are predesignated and designed to meet the specific

needs of the families, taking into account the ages of the children.

Donating baskets to the effort are churches, PTAs, local businesses,

individual families and 20 or more Girl and Boy Scout troops.

The effort is coordinated at the Burbank Armory, 3800 Valhalla Drive,

behind Fry’s Electronics on Hollywood Way. Those interested in delivering

baskets should arrive at 9 a.m.

Volunteers are needed between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. to help complete

baskets for families who have not been adopted by individuals or groups.

Many items are also needed, including grocery store gift certificates,

toys (from birth to age 18), canned goods, nonperishable items, and

toiletries (tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, hand lotion, paper

towels, facial and bathroom tissue). The items can be dropped off at the

armory the day of the event.

Seeing the results of the program makes the effort worthwhile, Gunn

said. “The delivery cards come back with comments from drivers telling

about the people who are helped. Card after card comes in, the drivers

saying how grateful the families are, how nice they were and how the

children helped to bring things in.”

Gunn says hundreds of volunteers help with the effort, which was

started in 1946.

To avoid duplication, the Coordinating Council works with the Burbank

Salvation Army and Burbank Temporary Aid Center. The Salvation Army will

adopt 300 of the Coordinating Council’s families this year.

Members of The Retired Officers Assn., Verdugo Hills Chapter are also

sharing the giving spirit this holiday season by bringing unwrapped toys

to their monthly meeting Dec. 18 at Genio’s Restaurant in Burbank. The

toys will be given to the Burbank Salvation Army for its Toys for Tots

drive. Members of the Salvation Army will be special guests at the

meeting.

Adding to the cheer to the event will be Elsie Anderson, well-known

Glendale accordionist, who will entertain with special holiday music.

Anderson, a UCLA graduate, has an exciting background. She has played on

the Ina Ray Hutton TV Show, the Freddie Martin TV Show and has done

segments on “The Love Boat.” She toured Europe and North Africa with an

MGM Studio Group that included Walter Pidgeon and Keenan Wynn. She also

has played campaign dinners for Gov. Deukmejian and is a substitute

teacher in Glendale schools.

The attitude adjustment hour stars at 11:30 a.m. with lunch at 12:20

p.m. The cost is $14. For information or reservations, call Capt. John

Pastor at 848-0676 or Marion Gustavsen at 352-3668.

The luncheon meeting is open to all active duty military officers,

former officers, retired officers, members of the Reserve and National

Guard and their wives and widows.

Residents were on hand when officials of KCET Studios on Sunset

Boulevard in Los Angeles -- a historic landmark founded in 1912 --

unveiled a new digital broadcast facility during a recent ribbon-cutting

ceremony and reception.

The public television station moved its broadcast operations into the

Weingart Educational Telecommunications Center and it plans to offer high

definition television broadcasts from the facility by spring.

Attending were KCET Women’s Council members Mary Alice O’Connor and

her daughter, J.P. O’Connor, of Burbank and Dottie Kemps of Glendale.

* JOYCE RUDOLPH is features editor. Her society column runs each

Saturday. To have an event covered, call her at 637-3241 or fax

information to 241-1975.