Soup kitchen distressed by lack of toys

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA - By this time last year, the office at the Someone Cares

Soup Kitchen was piled high with holiday gifts for needy children.

But this year, there is plenty of room in the office. Just three boxes

sit in one small stack.

“I’m pushing the [panic] button here. We have no toys,” said Merle

Hatleberg, the soup kitchen’s founder and director. “This time last year

the place was filled.”

Hatleberg is sending out a distress call to the community, asking for

donations of unwrapped toys so a 14-year tradition may continue.

Since it opened in 1986, Santa and Mrs. Claus have visited the soup

kitchen every year on Christmas Eve.

After children finish their holiday dinner of ham with all the

trimmings, they pop over to Santa’s lap, where they can forget all their

troubles for a few minutes of holiday cheer, Hatleberg said.

“Last year, we had almost 1,500 kids, and each one got two toys,” she

said, adding that this year she had wanted to shoot for three, but now

would be lucky to have one for each child.

So far, only about 75 toys have arrived at the soup kitchen, said

George Neureuther, development director for the soup kitchen.

“I just can’t believe we don’t have any toys,” Hatleberg said. “We

usually start getting them in by the first, but we’re just not getting

them.”

Having seen what the gifts mean to children who may otherwise get

none, Hatleberg said, she is determined the children will not be passed

over -- even if it means digging further into her own pocket, something

she has done before over the years.

The soup kitchen is looking for donations of unwrapped gifts that are

suitable for children 3 to 15. Because most of the toys donated are

usually for the younger children, the soup kitchen also accepts cash

donations, which they will use to buys gifts for the older children, she

said.

FYI

Donations may be dropped off at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen office,

720 W. 19th Street, Costa Mesa. For more information, call the soup

kitchen at (949) 548-8861.