Spreading good cheer

COSTA MESA — Celeste Gonzalez, 5, gasped when she opened a gift Santa Claus brought to her Saturday at the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter.

The small toy — a wedding themed My Little Pony, complete with a cake, bouquet and even pony high-heels — will no doubt make her smile till long past Christmas. She anxiously waited for her mom, Patty Gonzalez, to open the plastic package on the steps of the apartment they live in at the shelter and was dazzled when she saw a pink plastic ring that fit right on her finger.

“Look, it fits,” she declared when she tried it on. “I love it.”

But little Celeste wasn’t the only delighted child when Santa showed up Saturday at the Wallace Avenue shelter. Kids who have been living with their parents at the shelter excitedly decorated a Christmas tree while Christmas carols played. It was all provided by the workers at Costa Mesa restaurant Z’Tejas.

The restaurant has been coming to the shelter for the last three years to bring presents, food and other treats to the families.

“This is a time of year when people who are poor have the holidays swirling all around them, and often they can’t participate,” said Laura Miller, the shelter’s executive director. “You don’t like to think of Christmas as materialistic, but people feel left our if they can’t buy something for their children or spouse.”

Patty Gonzalez moved with her family to the shelter a year ago after she and her husband lost their jobs.

“We didn’t know where to go; we didn’t know about shelters,” she said as Celeste asked for a slice of pumpkin pie.

She and her family first went to the Salvation Army, leaving three of her five children with her parents, but soon after wanted to find somewhere her family could be together. At the Salvation Army, men and women are separated. She and her family were also looking for a way to get back on their feet.

At the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter, Patty Gonzalez has been working to save money, which the shelter requires of its transitional residents, and hopes to be living with her family in their own apartment soon.

“They’ve helped us so much here,” she said. “It’s more like home, more like a family.”

Down the street behind El Chinaco restaurant, Santa had help from the League of United Latin American Citizens’ local chapter. Restaurant owner Mirna Burciaga, who ran for City Council in November; her husband; her daughter, Stephanie Burciaga, 15; Humberto Caspa, president of the organization’s District 2; and others helped unload gifts for families who may not have had something to put under the tree otherwise.

Burciaga, the treasurer of the local chapter, helped dole out bags of donated gifts to families. Fliers were sent out at local schools, and families who wished to or were referred were able to register for the program.

“We want to give something back to the community and to these families so they have something to celebrate during Christmas,” Caspa said. “… That’s the whole idea behind Navidad.”

Juanita Carillo did not register but was still able to gather some gifts and Christmas cheer behind El Chinaco. She said her family lives in a local motel and hasn’t celebrated Christmas in six years.

“If it wasn’t for them, the kids would have nothing,” Carillo said.

Her 16-year-old daughter is about to deliver a baby after the new year, and her 15-year-old is battling uterine cancer, Carillo said. The day after Christmas, the 15-year-old is scheduled to have her uterus removed, Carillo said.

“I just want to enjoy the day — enjoy it with my family,” Alyssa Carrillo, 9, said. “I wish my sister good luck.”

Volunteers at both Westside locations echoed the same sentiment — putting a smile on a child’s face during Christmastime is the best reward they can get.

“We live in one of the most powerful countries in the world, and still people can’t afford to buy toys — their priority is to put food on the table,” Mirna Burciaga said. “We’re just trying to give some of those things they can’t afford…. We’re not giving away expensive toys, but they’re enough to make a child smile.”

Those interested in helping should go to www.ocinterfaithshelter.org.