Here's a helping hand

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers GIVING TREE RETURNS—Vounteer Ann Burke has run the Giving Tree for five years. The tree was in The Oaks mall until 2005 when it moved to Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks. This year the tree returned to The Oaks to help the community donate toys to local foster children. A program that provides holiday cheer to foster children is back at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks following a three-year absence.

The Giving Tree holiday drive, held at The Oaks for nearly two decades, relocated to the Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks three years ago after The Oaks lost retailer KB Toys. Now that the mall has completed its remodel, the drive is back at The Oaks on the second floor near the Toy Professor store.

Sponsored by Ventura County Children and Family Services, the program provides holiday gifts to foster and underprivileged children between the ages of newborn and 18. Participants may drop off a new, unwrapped toy, clothing, jewelry or gift card. The items will be brought to a Ventura location where foster parents will choose gifts for their foster children.

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers HOLIDAY CHEER—Boy Scout Ryan Kramer, 8, hangs some tags on the Giving Tree at The Oaks on Saturday. The tags contain requests from foster children for holiday presents. "Foster kids really appreciate getting something new," said Giving Tree volunteer and foster parent Ann Burke. "When one of my foster girls was 4 years old her comment was, 'Oh, I can keep this?' These kids get handmedown things."

The program also helps foster parents provide for the children, said Burke, who lives in Moorpark and has been involved in the Giving Tree for nearly 20 years.

"You only are awarded so much money per month to care for a foster child. It doesn't go very far, so any extra help around the holiday time is appreciated," Burke said.

The Giving Tree also helps get the word out about the need for foster parent volunteers. Pamphlets describing the program are available at the booth.

"I'm very passionate about this project because even if we only get one new foster parent it's worth it," Burke said. "There is such a need."

Donations so far this year are down from previous years, Burke said.

"Everybody's finding it hard, but we're still trying," Burke said. "There are different ways to help. The Giving Tree is not just for the holiday time."

Burke knits baby layettes throughout the year for newborns. Another volunteer repairs donated bicycles to give to foster children. A women's group hosts an annual summer picnic, and donations of school supplies are provided before the start of school.

"The Giving Tree is a reminder that we really need the community to reach out from their hearts," Burke said.

The tree was donated by the Kiwanis Club of the Conejo Valley. The booth is manned by volunteers, many of them students from Moorpark College; Chaparral and Mesa Verde middle schools in Moorpark; and Moorpark, Camarillo and Newbury Park high schools. Several Girl and Boy Scout troops and other community groups also participate.

Donations may be made from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today through Sun., Dec. 21.