FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2001
ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT PROVIDES GIFTS FOR NEEDY
Thousands of items will be donated to children, teens and seniors in Orange County
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – For the 12th year in a row, Orange County Water District (OCWD) employees will bring a merry Christmas to underprivileged children and senior citizens in Orange County by supporting Operation Santa Claus. Each employee who chooses to participate adopts an Angel Tag making a commitment to buy a gift for the person on the tag.
Between 75 and 100 children and senior citizens will receive gifts this Christmas through OCWD’s Operation Santa Claus program.
Donna Pike, a Huntington Beach resident for more than 20 years and a member of the Finance Department since 1988, has managed OCWD’s Operation Santa Claus drive for several years.
“This is the time of year for giving to others,” said Donna Pike. “If everyone could find it in their heart to include an underprivileged child or senior citizen on their shopping list, there will be a lot more smiling faces this holiday season.”
The Operation Santa Claus organization – working through agencies like OCWD – provides gifts and toys to needy children in transition who are abused, neglected, physically or mentally challenged, or homeless. Senior Santas serve the Social Services Agency’s elderly and dependent adult clients who may be neglected, displaced, and physically or mentally challenged.
Operation Santa Claus began in 1962 as a small holiday project to provide gifts for a few hundred children in low-income families and in 1975 the Orange County Social Services Agency assumed responsibility for the program. As the need for this service expanded, so did the program and in 1992 Agencies throughout Orange County formed the Operation Santa Claus Board with the goal of reaching even more children and also including some of the needy seniors and disabled people in Orange County. In 2000, more than 33,000 children and nearly 1,000 seniors received gifts throughout the County. Other agencies participating in Operation Santa Claus include Foster Care Auxiliary, Orangewood Children’s Home, Orange County Health Care Agency, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Housing and Community Development, and others.
The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in l933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.
To find out more about Operation Santa Claus, contact:
Cheryl Smith (714) 245-6053.
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