As the valley continues to suffer from high unemployment, demand remains strong for donations and volunteers during the upcoming holiday season. And children and adults in the Willow Glen community are answering the call to help those in need.

Even at the age of 10 or 11, fifth-graders at St. Christopher's School in Willow Glen have already discovered it doesn't take a holiday to realize the importance of helping others.

Some donate their time at local soup kitchens. Others have participated in a diabetes walk to help raise money to find a cure. And others have begun their own personal campaigns to aid needy children and adults, like collecting money in a jar, which once filled, will be donated to a local mission.

Eleven-year-old Parker Garrett gives gift certificates from McDonald's and Jamba Juice out to homeless people who ask him for money. Kevin Loquaci, 11, says when he goes to San Francisco Giants games, he gives homeless people money. Ten-year-old Tyler Horvath says recently he helped his mom sew 50 bags that enclosed treats that his family donated to a traveling shelter.

"There are still people out there in need," Tyler says. "They need food, clothes and a place to live."

The giving spirit ingrained in many of these children is not only encouraged at home, but is also practiced at their school throughout the year.

And with the holiday season fast approaching, November at St. Christopher's is a time when the entire school collects books, art supplies, baby items, food and other items to assist local organizations. Through this process of giving, the school hopes to foster the importance of reaching out to others.

Each grade is given a small list of needs that a specific organization could use to help those less fortunate. All the fifth-graders are responsible for collecting coloring books, crayons and small games for Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen. The nonprofit provides no-cost hot meals and support services to men, women and children in the community who cannot afford to eat adequate food or have balanced meals. They aim to assist families and seniors with these needs.

The fifth-graders' goal is to fill four large boxes for Loaves & Fishes. Fifth-grader Bianca Smith says she is happy to give to Loaves & Fishes because she knows other children will have a fun time coloring in their coloring books.

Another student, 10-year-old Jessica Walsh, says that for some of the kids, it might be "kinda like Christmas early."

She adds, "They'd probably feel really happy to have something useful."

The fifth-grade class of nearly 70 students were all smiles as they spoke about their experiences of giving to others. They dart their hands in the air, waving them, silently pleading to be the next to share a story about how their family helped make another family's life a little easier for the holidays.

During the classroom period the children were remarkably well-mannered and quiet as they listened to their peers share their individual stories of giving. Fifth-grade teacher Roberta Buchanan says she was impressed by the level of respect they showed each other during the classroom discussion.

On Nov. 19, the school held a Thanksgiving Prayer Service, and representatives from Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, Sacred Heart Pre-School, City Team Ministries, Hope Rehabilitation Center and other organizations sponsored by each grade were on hand to receive the accumulated donations.

Some of the students know firsthand what it's like to volunteer at some of the organizations the school was helping.

Ten-year-old Robby Genoch occasionally works at a soup kitchen with his family. He says it makes him realize how fortunate he is and sometimes he feels guilty for all the things he has.

"I think Thanksgiving is about being with your family—it's not all just about getting what you want," he says.

The fifth-graders' giving spirit is continued for an extended period of time —from Advent to Lent in the Christian church calendar, a little over a two-month period. During this time, students are asked to make an extra sandwich to bring to school once a week that will be given to Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

The school's motto, "Not words, but deeds," is exemplified in the actions of many of these young people, without the school's even imposing a community service requirement, Buchanan says.

And like St. Christopher, other schools in Willow Glen also emphasize the importance of giving and helping those less fortunate.

Every year, Booksin Elementary School holds an annual food drive to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank. This year's food drive was from Nov. 17­21.

Along with participating in the food drive, one teacher at Booksin has taken holiday giving to another level, emphasizing the holiday spirit by creating a fundraiser that is also educational.

For the past 12 years, Booksin second-grade teacher Darrell Martinez has held an aluminum-can drive in his classroom throughout the holiday season. After collecting the empty cans from students' families, the class cashes in the cans, and the money earned is used to buy turkeys for Thanksgiving for Martha's Kitchen, a nonprofit, interfaith, community dining room for the hungry.

He says that at least 20 turkeys will be taken to Martha's Kitchen and approximates that 8 to 10 hams will be given to Loaves & Fishes.

"It's good for them to learn to do a little community service," Martinez says.

And, the students continue to collect cans after Thanksgiving, cashing in the cans and buying hams for Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

The second-graders also have a scale in their classroom to weigh the bags of cans, so their can collecting is also doubling for Martinez as an interactive math lesson. Martinez uses the pounds and ounces from the cans' weight to teach math, with all the students participating in the project. He also divides the students into football teams to create a sense of competition, as the teams try to outdo each other in the collection process.

While Martinez's class has been busy collecting cans, the rest of the school was busy collecting canned food for the school's Fall Food Drive. Ten tall bins were placed throughout the school's campus, and students were asked for nonperishable items like spaghetti, canned vegetables and peanut butter. The goal was to donate 10,000 pounds of food, providing 8,000 meals for the community. The school also accepted cash or check donations.

Booksin food-drive coordinator Debbi Santina says that for every dollar that was donated, 2.4 pounds of food could be purchased for needy families.

For some of the students this is a theme repeated throughout the year. Second-grader Scotty Santina says his family frequently volunteers throughout the year and donated macaroni and cheese, syrup, toaster pastries, spaghetti and ketchup to the food drive.

"It's important to help out people who can't afford food," he says.

Like Booksin, other schools within the San Jose Unified School District also step up to help those in need during the holidays.

Third-grade teacher and student council adviser Gail Hodgins cooked up a win-win situation for Schallenberger Elementary School students and Second Harvest Food Bank in her school's food drive. Before she taught at Schallenberger and while her children attended the school, Hodgins watched as the school gathered a few hundred canned foods annually during the holidays.

"For seven years it was such a small thing," Hodgins says. "With all the kids involved, I knew we could get a lot of cans."

So Hodgins motivated classes to compete for the most canned goods. Each class elected a food-drive representative to count cans daily during the week of Nov. 3­7 and keep a running total.

The kindergarten through second-grade classes competed against other lower grades and the fourth- and fifth-grade classes competed against one another. The lower- and upper-grade winners were awarded an ice cream sundae party, with Hodgin's class being one of the winners.

Compared to last year, when the school collected 854 pounds of food, this year the students exceeded the amount by almost three times, collecting 2,249 pounds. But that wasn't the final weight. Hodgins also arranged for six teachers and student council members to drop off fliers in the neighborhood asking for can donations. Two days later, teachers accompanied student council members to the houses where they had dropped off the fliers and collected the food left on doorsteps and carted off their hauls in red wagons.

"It was fun," Hodgins says. "The kids adored it. Everybody wanted to do it."

By the end of their neighborhood rounds, the wagons were overflowing, she says. The school received more than 300 cans from residents, she added. Hodgins says the cans collected from the students and neighborhood numbered more than 3,000.

Hodgins says the project helped the children remember that there are people who lack essentials and it also teamed the school with the neighborhood, showing the community what a school can do.

But the schools aren't the only ones finding ways to help those less fortunate during the holidays. Businesses and residents are also giving their time and energy to making this year better for others.

Willow Glen resident Phillip Vargas, a former Marine, has been volunteering his time for the past nine years to various charities. An agent for Allstate Insurance Company on Meridian Avenue, Vargas says he has organized and participated in local charity drives at every company he's worked for. Some of that time is spent picking up coat donations from local businesses for Operation One Warm Coat, which is sponsored by KISS 98.1 FM radio and BART. The coats are distributed by local social services like Sacred Heart Community Center and St. Vincent de Paul's to low-income and homeless people.

"We're doing what we can," he says.

Where to donate, how to help

By Amy Wicks

Consider donating food, clothes or financial assistance to one of several locations in Willow Glen that is helping those in need.

Galarza Elementary School, 1619 Bird Ave., is accepting nonperishable food items from Dec. 4 to 19. The food will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank in Willow Glen. They request that no glass-container food items be donated. Donations can be made in the main office at Galarza. For more information, call 408.535.6671.

Hacienda Elementary School, 1290 Kimberly Dr. The school's student council, in conjunction with the Salvation Army, is sponsoring the collection of nonperishable food donations until Dec.12 at the school. Last year, with the help of Hacienda, the Salvation Army was able to provide a hot holiday meal and two weeks' worth of food for every family that needed its assistance.

Donations can be dropped off at the school. For more information, call 408.535.6259

Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, 389 East Santa Clara St. Loaves & Fishes provides no-cost hot meals and support services to people of all ages. The nonprofit is collecting donations of hams, assorted canned goods and nonperishables; new toys for all ages of children; caps, sweaters, and rain ponchos in adult sizes; and sweatshirts for seniors at its facility in San Jose. For more information, call 408.293.4505 or visit www.loavesfishes.org.

Martha's Kitchen, 311 Willow St., is not serving Thanksgiving or Christmas meals because it is under construction. But it is still accepting donations at the nearby Sacred Heart Nativity School. For more information, call 408.293.6111.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, 750 Curtner Ave., is seeking poultry and nonperishable goods. Needed foods include chickens, tuna, powdered milk, peanut butter, canned meats and stews, hot and cold cereals, 100-percent fruit juices, pasta and rice. The nonprofit also hopes to collect money to feed 210,000 people throughout the fall and winter. Volunteers and cash donations are welcome. The food bank is closed Nov. 27­30. For more information, call 866.234.3663 or visit www.2ndharvest.net.

InnVision The agency is seeking gift certificates from grocery stores or all-purpose stores for toys, sweatshirts, underwear, juice, coffee and monetary donations to help thousands of homeless people in the community. Volunteers are also needed to sort donations or prepare and serve meals. For more information, call 408.292.4286 or visit www.innvision.org.

Cathedral of Faith, 2315 Canoas Garden Ave., assists more than 60,000 people annually. It is accepting turkeys and personal hygiene products at its outreach center on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information, call 408.267.4691.