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Volunteers to wrap up holiday with the area’s most cheer-full party
It’s that time of year again. The season where hundreds of South Bay residents look past the tinsel and Holiday sales and succumb to the giving spirit.
With only a few short shopping weeks till Christmas, Cheer for Children, a local charity with no administrative costs, still has donations of food gift-certificates, unwrapped toys, art supplies and toiletries on its Christmas list. Cheer for Children is also looking for volunteers to help wrap presents, decorate rooms and entertain children at their holiday parties.
“You think you’re helping them and end up getting back more than you’d ever given,” said Pam Edwards, one of Cheer for Children’s founders. The organization helps out needy children year round, but puts and emphasis on making Christmas a merrier time for children around the South Bay.
Their annual wrapping party at Torrance Memorial Hospital draws dozens of warm-hearted locals to help wrap the gifts collected at boxes around the Beach Cities. They’re particularly looking for toys for girls ages 8 and up and for teenagers.
“Teens are the most often overlooked. They love gift certificates for music, movies, shoes, perfumes for the girls and cologne for the boys,” Edwards said. Gift certificates for Kinko’s copy centers are also appreciated, as they let teens access the Internet and do their computer-based homework after school and library hours.
Volunteers stopping by the wrapping party Thursday Dec. 21 are encouraged to bring their own pens scissors tape and wrapping paper. The gifts are distributed at Christmas parties at local hospitals for acutely ill and needy children. The kids get to play games, hang out with Santa and make holiday crafts. Along with the presents, Cheer for Children gives out “Santa bags” of basic necessities.
“Last year as a mother and her young daughter were leaving the little girl said, ‘Look Mommy, we don’t have to share a toothbrush anymore!’” Edwards said.
Edwards co-founded the group 16 years ago, inspired by her contact with a young woman suffering from a fatal nerve disorder.
“Every year they said it would be her last. And she was a happy, wonderful person, always helping others. The way she lived inspired me to want to give back to others. She was given rotten lemons and she made shining lemonade. I told myself that if she could do this I can give back too,” Edwards said.
Over the years she’s made a positive impact on hundreds of children throughout the Beach Cities, whether its organizing movie nights for sick children in hospitals or marshalling volunteers and area businesses to help out with her holiday drives.
“One time she called me up and said she had some inline skates if we wanted them,” said Dave Bacon, of Redondo Beach’s Parks and Recreation Department. “When we got there, they had a whole room full of skates waiting for us,” Bacon said.
Helping others has helped Edwards work around her own chronic illness.
“It’s given me a different outlook on life. I don’t feel sorry for myself,” she said. “I couldn’t do any of this without the help of all the volunteers that help out every year. They do all the hard work, I just have a big mouth.”
Cheer for Children’s Holiday Wrapping Party starts at 3 p.m. and runs till 8 p.m. at Torrance Memorial Hospital, 3330 Lomita Blvd. in Torrance, Building 3105. Volunteers are needed for other holiday events as well. For more information call 540-2493. ER