Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Giving trees at Town Hall help brighten holidays for children

By Clarence Cromwell

Santa Claus will visit homes San Jose and Campbell this Christmas to leave gifts for 100 kids who might have been forgotten, except for the efforts of the Los Gatos town staff.

They put up four Salvation Army "Giving Trees" in the Civic Center, so town employees, residents and business people could buy gifts for kids from poor families.

Four trees, in the police station, clerk's office, library and Planning Department, were covered with colored paper tags that passersby took to the store so they could buy whatever gift was indicated on the tag. Salvation Army volunteers filled out tags for kids of each age from 1 to 14, and on each tag they suggested an appropriate present.

One contractor, who stopped by the Planning Department to pick up a permit, also picked up a tag suggesting a radio and came back with the biggest boom box the town staff had ever seen, Planner Kristine Syskowski said. But presents weren't required to be so elaborate.

Syskowski, who has no children of her own, bought a wooden puzzle for a 3-year-old boy somewhere.

"I like to get constructive things," she explained.

Los Gatos Deputy Town Clerk Cathleen Bruhn bought a doll for a 4-year-old girl.

"Because these kids don't have anything and their parents probably can't afford a heck of a lot," she said, "it's a good thing to do."

On top of that, she bought gifts for her 5-year-old daughter, Jessica, and presents to donate to a needy family that her daughter's class at Alta Vista School adopted through another Salvation Army program.

Salvation Army troops visited town hall several times to pick up the presents overflowing from bins during the last few weeks. On Christmas morning, about 7,500 children around Santa Clara County will open presents donated at numerous Giving Trees, a Salvation Army spokesman said. The charitable organization hoped to expand its help to 3,000 families, about 500 more than it reached last year. The majority of poor families live in San Jose or Campbell, but a few hundred come from outlying suburbs.