Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Aiding the Children at Ninth Street School - Skid Row Los Angeles

Years ago the Los Angeles Times adopted a local school that educated disadvantaged children, employees could select a boy or a girl that was represented by a silhouette in red or green with the child's name and age affixed to the back of the cutout.

The employees of the press-room were always a generous group, and every child received a gift from the employees and their families for Christmas.

For some reason this practice was stopped after the Tribune Company took over the newspaper?

My children would help me select the gifts as we always bought gifts for a boy and a girl, and since the children are now adults I'll enlist the help of my grandchildren this season.

I came across this message on the DTLA newsgroup on Facebook and thought I would share with everyone in hopes we can resume this tradition of gifting once again.

From Ms. Kye Kim

"Hello DTLA! I know that times are hard, but you are also a generous group. I'm a 4th grade teacher at Ninth Street School. We're located on 9th/Stanford. Many (if not all) the kids from the Union Mission attend our school. We are a Title 1 school - all students are on a free lunch program. I was wondering if there were any groups or individuals who would like to "adopt" my class or school during this Christmas season. The students could write letters to "Santa" asking for one gift and maybe someone can match their request.

I'm assuming all gifts would need to be dropped off by December 13th, before Christmas break begins, and most likely dropping off at the school office in care of Ms. Kim's class would work best. At the moment I do not know how many children are attending her class or the breakdown of boys and girls, but will keep you updated as the information becomes available.

Address: 
  • 820 Towne Ave.
  • Los Angeles, California 90011

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Edward!
This is Ms. Kim from Ninth Street. I am so thankful for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for reaching out to us at Ninth Street School. We reopened this past August and have some of the smartest and sweetest kids attending our school.

I reached out expecting a few interested Santas out there. Then I discovered an amazing community that is not only willing to buy a child a gift, but to offer to help to organize, adopt a class, and throw a holiday party. I am truly humbled by the outpouring.

My class has been adopted by some Santas in Diamond Bar. We still have 8 more classes looking for Santas. The students are busy writing their letters this week. I will try to match a child with his/her Santa by early next week. We are in session until Dec. 20. Thank you so much.