HOLIDAY PRESENT DRIVES TO BENEFIT YOUNG AND OLD.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Living miles and generations apart, 88-year-old Louis Sluskin of Encino and 1-year-old Yesenia Tapia of Newhall have something in common: They'll both benefit from charity Christmas events this holiday season.

Throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, the annual effort is under way by scores of groups aiming to bring a smile, some attention and a wrapped gift to needy children and seniors this Christmas.

For Sluskin, a former Warner Bros. technician who lives at the Encino Riviera Retirement Hotel, the spirit of Christmas was apparent in the thought behind his gift last year from the Light Heart Foundation.

``Last Christmas, I got a little stuffed doll,'' said Sluskin, a New York native with no family in California. ``At first, I didn't know what to think because I used to give my kids these things years ago. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it that someone thought of me personally, and it makes me smile every time I see it in my room.''

Sluskin is one of about 500 seniors who will enjoy donated gifts and activities organized by the Light Heart Foundation, a Van Nuys nonprofit group that works to connect schoolchildren with elderly people living at nursing homes.

He said many of the seniors he's met are neglected by their families, a painful prospect for the holidays.

``We're like a child in an old body,'' he said. ``We need attention. But once old folks aren't productive, the families forget them, shun them and want to sweep them under the rug.''

The Light Heart Foundation is asking for donated gifts - everything from clothing to videos - and volunteers to distribute them at planned Christmas events.

Miles away, 1-year-old Yesenia Tapia and her family will be getting gifts at a Christmas celebration sponsored by the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center Foundation in Sylmar.

The youngest of the family's four children, Yesenia suffered from complications that left her developmentally delayed when she was born prematurely. She spent months in an intensive care incubator at the hospital, running up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

Luckily, her family qualified for Medi-Cal relief, which paid the hospital bills. But the family struggles financially. Yesenia's mother, Isabel Tapia, is a housewife, and her father, Bernardo, buses tables at a nearby restaurant.

The foundation is planning a Dec. 22 event at the hospital with a visit from Santa Claus and gifts for Yesenia and about 900 other pediatric patients and their families. Gifts were donated by local businesses and individuals.

``We appreciate what the hospital is doing because we don't have the money to celebrate or buy nice gifts,'' Isabel Tapia said. ``The only thing we were planning was to be home and have dinner and prayers at midnight on Christmas Eve, but this is fun for the kids.''

And the giving spirit spread to Yesenia's oldest brother, 11-year-old Bernardo. He said that despite the family's tough situation, he and his younger brothers are trying to save money to buy their mom a Christmas present.

``We're going to give her a pretty dress, even if we have to ask our dad for more allowance money,'' he said.

Other toy drives include one offered in Van Nuys by the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp., a nonprofit group that works to reintegrate homeless children and adults into society.

The organization seeks gift donations for its Snow Day on Dec. 19, when volunteers will distribute toys to needy children at the Sydney M. Irmas Transitional Living Center in North Hollywood. It will be decorated with 12 to 15 tons of snow for children to play in.

The Continental Coin and Jewelry Co. has sponsored the event for the past 11 years.

``I come from the philosophy that it often takes a village to raise a child, and we ask that our village, San Fernando Valley and beyond, offer their compassion to these families to help us brighten their holidays by donating new unwrapped toys and bringing them into our store,'' said Kenneth Gerston, Continental's CEO and chairman for the toy drive.

Another group seeking volunteers and donations of toys for needy children is the North Hollywood Rotary Club, which on Dec. 13 will hold a holiday lunch for students in grades two to four from four local elementary schools in disadvantaged areas of the East Valley.

The gifts will be wrapped by volunteers from the East Valley YMCA Middle School program.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Arturo Fernandez and Channing Walton of the U.S. Marines unpack donated Christmas presents.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

(2) The Christmas spirit is upon the Tapia family of Newhall, including, from left: Jonathan, 9, Bernardo, 11, mom Isabel, Christian, 6, and 1-year-old Yesenia. The boys are trying to save money to buy their mother a Christmas present.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer