SANTA GETS SOME HELP AVC STAFFER LEADS TOY DRIVE FOR NEEDY KIDS.Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News LANCASTER Lancaster, city, England Lancaster (lăng`kəstər), city (1991 pop. 43,902) and district, county seat of Lancashire, NW England, on the Lune River. -- Rosa Hernandez is like many who think about what they can do for some of society's least fortunate, especially children, around the holiday season. But thinking about making a difference is one thing. Actually doing something, as Hernandez does, is something entirely different. Under her direction, Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. held its 10th annual toy drive Friday Friday: see Sabbath; week. Friday young Indian rescued by Crusoe and kept as servant and companion. [Br. Lit.: Robinson Crusoe] See : Servant morning. About 150 children from Littlerock's Jackie Robinson Noun 1. Jackie Robinson - United States baseball player; first Black to play in the major leagues (1919-1972) Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Robinson after-school program, the Pearblossom school program, Lancaster's Valley Oasis and the Lancaster Homeless Shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. gathered at different times in the lobby of the college administration building, where they received gifts and hugs from Santa Claus Santa Claus: see Nicholas, Saint. Santa Claus jolly, gift-giving figure who visits children on Christmas Eve. [Christian Tradition: NCE, 1937] See : Christmas Santa Claus . Hernandez, an Antelope Valley College switchboard operator, said she got the idea for the toy drive when she noticed a ``Toys for Tots'' donation station at an area retail chain about 10 years ago. ``I went home and I started looking through the Yellow Pages right away,'' Hernandez said. ``I knew I could get help from everyone here on campus. That's what made me think I could pull this off.'' Organizing the toy drive has become a year-round activity. This year, she had more willing gift donors than children local charities made available for the toy drive. In addition to the gifts for children, Hernandez raised $540 in gift certificates for Lancaster Homeless Shelter parents. ``It means a lot to the kids,'' said Caroline Hicks Hicks , Edward 1780-1849. American painter of primitive works, notably The Peaceable Kingdom, of which nearly 100 versions exist. , an L.A. County Parks and Recreation service leader who runs and teaches preschool at Pearblossom Park. ``They look forward to this every year; they've been asking me about it for about a month now and now they're here so they're really enjoying themselves.'' Hernandez is involved in other charitable work, including collecting donations for Lancaster's Grace Resource Center. ``It's just tremendous,'' AVC (1) (Advanced Video Coding) The video compression techniques used in the H.264 standard, jointly developed by ISO and the ITU-T. See H.264. (2) (Audio Visual C President Jackie Fisher said. ``It takes a lot of effort, and nobody asked her to do this, but she does it anyway.'' Hernandez said she'll continue running the toy drive in future years. She encourages all Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley residents to contribute directly to charitable groups. ``I want all the kids that are less fortunate in our community and everywhere to have a little something that will cheer them up for the holidays and sometimes they don't have that,'' Hernandez said. ``Sometimes their families, for whatever reason, don't have a way of providing a little toy for them. That's what makes me want to do it again every year.'' gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com (661) 267-7802 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2) Above, Santa gets a hug from Drian Rodriguez, 3, from Pearblossom Park Pre School, at the Antelope Valley College holiday toy drive on Friday. Left, Jolene Wessel, 4, waits to get her present from Santa. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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