H.B. kids get holiday treat, courtesy of the Angels

Members of the Angels traded their halos Tuesday afternoon for Santa hats.

The major-league baseball team’s manager, Mike Scioscia, pitcher Tyler Skaggs, bullpen coach Steve Soliz and former pitcher Chuck Finley greeted and autographed hats for dozens of children at the Angels Baseball Foundation’s annual holiday party at the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney in Anaheim.

Children from Community Service Programs’ Huntington Beach Youth Shelter and various Boys & Girls Clubs in Orange County were treated to a free dinner, free play on the venue’s arcade games and a free toy.

“We get more out of it than we put in,” Scioscia said. “To see these kids with their smiles makes you cherish the time when you were that age. I leave with more than I contribute.”

Eighteen children from Oak View, a low-income Latino neighborhood in Huntington Beach, attended the event and had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the Angels. Thirteen of the kids are participating in CSP’s gang prevention program.

“My students don’t really get to see much outside of the Oak View community, so for them to be at Downtown Disney at the ESPN Zone is a great opportunity for them to see what’s out there,” said Oak View Elementary School teacher Stacee Lewis, who had five students attend the event. “Maybe it’s a dream come true for them to meet someone famous, and it might give them aspiration and goals to be like them.”

Accompanying the children was Fidel Cruz, a youth development specialist for CSP who focuses on the Santa Ana-based nonprofit’s gang prevention program.

Having been raised in Oak View, he said he understands the pressures kids in the neighborhood go through and that programs like CSP and events similar to those hosted by the Angels Baseball Foundation help steer them from the wrong path.

“The fact that they’re coming to an after-school program and keeping busy is vital,” Cruz said.