Providing Hope, Help for Holidays

Debbie Clapper stood in line for nearly an hour this week to get gifts for her two young children and food for a Christmas dinner.

Clapper, a single mother pregnant with her third child, wasn’t in a last-minute holiday shopping line. She was at the Salvation Army’s Christmas warehouse in Anaheim, which is stock-full of food and toys for 5,800 of Orange County’s neediest families.

“I just want to cry,� said Clapper, 26, of Anaheim. “It makes me happy to see that when people go home from here, they’re going to have a happy Christmas.�

Families began picking up their assistance packages, including toys and food boxes with a frozen turkey, fresh vegetables and canned fruits, at the warehouse at 1331 N. Euclid St.

About 3,800 recipients from North and Central Orange bCounty will pick up their packages from the warehouse and the remainder from a center in South County that is open for distribution today, said the Salvation Army’s Capt. Lee R. Lescano.

Last year, 7,000 families were served through the program.

The Salvation Army’s Red-Kettle drive pays for operation costs, turkeys and extra food and toys. Leftover donations and food are used to help needy families in the new year. Lescano said, the drive is $50,000 short of their $200,000 goal. Gift donations for teenage boys and girls are also needed.

Hundreds of volunteers have turned out to help at the Anaheim warehouse. More volunteers are needed for distribution from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Tuesday and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to pack food and toys.

Gina Aguilar, 36, of Anaheim, volunteered to keep preoccupied so she wouldn’t be so sad about her ill mother in Mexico.

“There’s not a lot of people who want to give their time. . . . But I have the time available, and I just like helping other people.�

Information: (714) 832-7100.