Season of giving starts now
During this time of the year, we can best show gratitude for our own blessings by giving something to others. Charity begins at home, and through the auspices of the Santa Comes to Agoura and Beyond organization there's a way you can donate food to the people in need right here in the Conejo and Las Virgenes valleys.

Many local residents don't take into account that, even in affluent areas, things can change in a hurry. Jobs are lost, illness can strike, and there are divorces, accidents and serious injuries. A family living in a nice home might appear to be doing well, but they could be living paycheck to paycheck, or have no income at all. It happens more often than you think.

The Santa Comes to Agoura food drive is a nondenominational effort aimed at making the holidays a little more palatable for families enduring hardship. Now 28 years old, Santa Comes to Agoura also offers assistance to various other worthy causes including those that help battered women and children, people with diseases and kids without homes.

Event organizer George Annino originally collected and distributed the food from his Oak Park home, but soon began seeking the help of local businesses. Today you can assist Annino by dropping off canned goods, nonperishable foodstuffs and unopened toiletries at Beanscene in Oak Park and Do-it Center, First Federal Bank and Postal Annex in Agoura Hills. A note of caution: Please don't just rid your cupboards of items that are past their expiration dates.

Donations of new, unwrapped toys are welcome as well.

You may also take your donations to the event's culmination this Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Agoura Hills Do-it Center on Roadside Drive. Santa himself will be a guest of honor and the public is invited to attend. Activities are slated from 9 to 11 a.m.

Still another way to help is by sending supermarket scrip or checks made payable to Agoura Optimist Club/Santa, 6602 Maple Grove, Oak Park, CA 91377.

This holiday season, please dig a little deeper and contribute to the charity of your choice. The Santa Comes to Agoura event is a good place to start.