Community Members Organize Free Christmas Meal

The same group that organized aat the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in November will also put on a meal and gift exchange on Christmas Day for the city's low-income and needy residents.

"We're trying to fill in the gap," said Don Lane, a City Council member and one of the organizers.

The Community Meal and Holiday Gift Exchange will be Christmas Day from noon to 4 p.m. at the Coral Street shelter.

Lane said he is working on organizing the gift exchange portion of the event—something he acknowledges can be difficult when a sizeable contingent of the folks who are invited don't have a lot to give.

"Were trying to figure out something small and nice," said Lane. "We have a very small budget that we might be able to use for gifts."

Organizers are encouraging members of the public to make gift donations—especially socks and undergarments to help needy keep warm this winter. The Homeless Service Center is also seeking cash donations and able volunteers.

, a Santa Cruz activist and one of the lead organizers of the meal, said he expects between 500 and 700 people to show up—considerably fewer than the Thanksgiving event had.

He said the city offered the use of the Civic Auditorium again, but organizers weren't sure a larger event would be feasible.

"They had offered to give us the Civic and pay for it as they had done for Thanksgiving, but we really couldn't staff it," he said. "The community really goes away for the holidays."

Pleich said resources are scarce for local organizations, and there are not a lot of options in Santa Cruz.

"There's reduced money available; there's reduced resources," he said. "When you have the number of people that we have in this community that are of modest means, we felt we had to do something."

For more information about this event or to find out how you can help, call the Homeless Services Center at 831-458-6020 or go to scshelter.org.