During this season of giving, many in Coronado are opening their hearts to those most in need. Service and social organizations, along with business and churches, are reaching out to help.
Coronado Tennis Association (CTA) collected items for Es Por los Ninos (It’s For the Children), an HIV/AIDS clinic at the General Hospital in Tijuana at its annual Ladies Luncheon. “We always ask the clinic what they need most,” said Jennie Portelli, CTA president. “This year was pajamas; last year it was diapers and baby formula.”
The Coronado Lions Club has made giving an annual tradition as well. “Several years ago we decided that instead of having a gift exchange among ourselves, we would rather bring gifts for others,” said Carrie Downey, president of the Coronado Lions Club.
Each year members select a different charity. This year, they and the Leo Club (the high school affiliate of the Lions Club) donated stuffed animals to the Coronado Police Department’s Teddy Bear Drive – Law Enforcement for Teddy Bears.
The stuffed animals will be given to patients in Rady’s Children’s Hospital, not only this month but throughout the year. The program has become a tradition of law enforcement agencies across San Diego County. Together, county law enforcement agencies collected over 50,000 stuffed animals.
The CPD collected 675 of those from bins they put out in the community and from direct donations from community organizations, according to Officer Sam Sellers. Besides the Lions Club, the Optimist Club, Girl Scouts, Rotary Club and the Senior Center donated.
The Optimist and Rotary Clubs are also supporting Toys for Tots by asking their members to bring a toy to their December meeting. For both groups, giving to Toys for Tots has been a Christmas tradition for some 30 years. This year, the Optimists invited the high school ROTC to collect the toys and deliver them to the Marines.
Local businesses have also been collecting for the Toys for Tots program, a toy drive launched in 1948 by two Marine Corp reservists. Lee Mather Realty has a bin outside of its offices, as does Pretty Please. The shop, which sells women’s fashions, is offering customers a 20% discount for donating a toy to the program.
As it has in past years, the Coronado Women’s Club’s Evening Section collected money for Rachel’s House (a daytime drop-in center for homeless women) to buy shoes. Members are also donating undergarments for the ladies who are striving to put their lives back together and transition to a better life.
Crown Barbershop is gift-wrapping presents to raise money for the Underground Railroad Project. The organization rescues children in third world countries who have been kidnapped or sold by their parents into the sex slave trade. The shop’s owner, Misty Lewis learned of the Underground Railroad a year ago. “It touched my heart,” she said.
Yoga instructor Danell Dwaileebe has set up a bin to collect food for the holidays at the Coronado Fitness Club. Members have been asked to contribute nonperishable goods to it.
Christ Episcopal Church set up an Angel Tree to collect gifts for children at a South Bay Head Start. Parishioners also brought blankets, clothes and diapers for the Advent Baby Shower, which will benefit refugee mothers and infants. The church also took up a special collection for St. Paul’s Pace Program, a senior day care centers in Downtown San Diego and Chula Vista.
At Sacred Heart Catholic Church the youth group collected blankets (Blankets of Love) for Father Joe’s Village. Parishioners also donated clothes for the Baby Birthline, a pregnancy support center, and warm clothes and blankets for Casa de los Pobres (House of the Poor) in Tijuana. The church also adopted families at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in San Diego. The families will receive food and one gift for each child.
The First Baptist Church donated gift boxes of toys and school supplies to Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child. The evangelical Christian group distributes the shoe-sized boxes to needy children around the world. Closer to home, the First Baptist Church also supports three orphanages in Mexico and sent blankets and toys to a children’s cancer clinic at the General Hospital in Tijuana.
As it has for over two decades, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church put up an Angel Tree to collect gifts for five families the Good Neighbor Center in Imperial Beach. Each angel has the name and a Christmas wish. And as part of their Advent season of service, the St. Paul’s Connect Group (parishioners between 20 and 40 years old) created supply bags that included toothpaste, soap, and bottled water for the homeless. Additionally, the United Method Women raised money for the church’s missions by selling Christmas deserts.
Beyond this sampling of the generosity being shown by Coronado residents this Christmas, there are many more organizations, institutions and individuals participating in the season of giving, from those who never pass a Salvation Army kettle without giving a dollar or two to those who work the line at a soup kitchen to feed the homeless during the holidays.
——–
Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
