Santa Comes to Agoura once again

Acorn Editor


MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn  FULL OF GIVING-Above, Meg Berkowitz, 6, adds a can of food to an already overflowing shopping cart during the Santa Comes to Agoura food drive on Saturday at the Do-It Center in Agoura Hills. Below, parents play the role of paparazzi by videotaping the Brookside Elementary Singers.

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn FULL OF GIVING-Above, Meg Berkowitz, 6, adds a can of food to an already overflowing shopping cart during the Santa Comes to Agoura food drive on Saturday at the Do-It Center in Agoura Hills. Below, parents play the role of paparazzi by videotaping the Brookside Elementary Singers.

The 22nd annual "Santa Comes to Agoura" food drive finished this week after a large crowd gathered last Saturday morning to bring, sort and bag the food.


Local families and other worthy causes will be the recipients.


A variety of activities highlighted the culmination at the Do-It Center parking lot in Agoura Hills, including a release of doves. The white birds circled the site and then flew east and concluded the festivities, just before the bagging began.


Each bag was to include a variety of foods, including toiletries.



But the work, according to organizer George Annino, would continue through yesterday as workers continued to distribute the food.


"Every year we help out more people," said Annino on Sunday.


Saturday’s activities included performances by the Agoura High School Dance Team, the Brookside Elementary School Singers and the Oak Park High School Cheerleaders. Annie Wolfson sang in memory of 9-11’s "Ground Zero." She’s the niece of Patti Wolfson, one of Annino’s top assistants.


Another dramatic moment was the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus who flew in by helicopter, thanks to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Santa’s sleigh wasn’t available, according to a highly reliable source, because Santa’s reindeer are resting up for a big night later this month.



The crowd gathered in a large circle after Santa arrived when Monsignor Peter O’Reilly and Dr. Craig Johnson of St. Maximilian Kolbe Church and Bethel Christian Church, respectively, led everyone in prayer. Special words were shared for a teary-eyed Annino, whose mother died the day before Thanksgiving.


Annino credits his upbringing and particularly his parents for inspiring him to create the food drive. George’s family in Brooklyn, N.Y. opened their doors to feed hungry people when he was growing up.


Several local peace officers and firefighters were introduced, including representatives of L.A. County and Ventura County sheriff’s and fire departments. The city of Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol were also represented.


Youngsters with the Scouts, YMCA and other groups helped out. The Agoura-Las Virgenes Optimist Club gave Annino a lot of assistance, like other groups and individuals.


Local residents were the first priority, but the drive also helped battered women and children, AIDS victims, adults with cerebral palsy, St. Michael’s Church in East L.A. and the Optimists Boys Home in L.A.




 

 

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn  NO MORE-An Oak Park boy makes sure his food collection bag is empty before turning in donations to last weekend's

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn NO MORE-An Oak Park boy makes sure his food collection bag is empty before turning in donations to last weekend’s “Santa Comes to Agoura” food drive. Local schools and service groups helped gather the food on behalf of needy families.

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