Plenty of places to give in Cambria during the holidays
Mailboxes are overflowing with pleas for year-end donations, so it can be difficult and emotionally painful to decide which worthy cause(s) to support.
To jog your memory, here are some local options that can help our own people in need and assist community causes dear to many hearts.
▪ Donations of new, unwrapped gifts for youngsters and teens can be deposited in Toys for Tots boxes. Some donation locations are at the Cambria Fire Department’s Burton Drive station, Cal Fire/Cambria station on Coventry Lane, Pacific Premiere Bank, 2255 Main St., and the Cambria Chamber of Commerce, 767 Main St.
“Last year, we provided gifts to about 200 local children,” said Brian Griffin.
Gifts of nonperishable foods can be placed in Season of Hope/Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo boxes at the fire stations and bank.
Boxes at Cambria Fire were “filled to overflowing” Monday, Nov. 27, but many more donations (including money) are needed and very welcome, according to Fire Chief William Hollingsworth.
▪ Again, there won’t be Salvation Army kettles and bell ringers on the North Coast, because of a lack of a qualified coordinator and volunteers.
Perhaps because of the lack of local kettles and the bell ringers who staff them, North Coast donations are down, but “the need for services is up,” Beth Quaintance, Salvation Army’s field rep in this county, said in a Monday phone interview.
Donations can be sent to Salvation Army, P.O. Box 2654, Paso Robles CA 93447. She said those gifts do benefit people on the North Coast who need food or temporary financial assistance for housing and utilities.
For instance, Quaintance said the Army provided more than 20 turkeys to needy North Coast families this Thanksgiving.
She also said that she’s still seeking bell ringers for Morro Bay sites. Anyone interested can call 610-0853.
▪ American Legion Post No. 432 has set up donation sites for its TS2 (Troop Support Services) program that sends supplies to active-duty service members, whose names are listed on the red-white-and-blue sign in the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building parking lot.
The post sets up donation-collection points at the post office on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons at the farmers market, according Post 2nd Vice Cmdr. Griffin. Donations (with “TS2” in the memo line) also can be sent to American Legion Post 432, P.O. Box 697, Cambria, 93428.
▪ Local food giveaway programs help needy families regularly and during the holidays. Among those programs are Cambria’s Anonymous Neighbors, Santa Rosa Catholic Church’s Loaves and Fishes Fund and Cambria Vineyard Church’s food outreach (some members from other churches also participate).
Other causes
But those are far from the only reliable local organizations with causes worthy of support during the holidays and year-round.
In an informal online and in-person survey, these were among the charities and nonprofits mentioned by North Coast residents as being high on their “donate now” lists.
For details on the organizations, consult the club and organization pages in “The Original Community Directory for Cambria and San Simeon,” and websites for individual groups.
They’re listed alphabetically:
American Field Service international exchange program
Arts associations, such as Allied Arts Association and Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre
Beautify Cambria Association
Cambria’s Anonymous Neighbors
Cambria Community Council Open Heart, which gives grants to many of the others
Cambria Connection
Cambria Education Foundation
Cambria Forest Committee
Cambria 4H and FFA
Cambria Head Start
Cambria Historical Society and Museum
Cambria Youth Athletic Association
Camp Ocean Pines
Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay/Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Friends of the Cambria Library
Friends of the Elephant Seal
Friends of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve
Friends of Hearst Castle
Greenspace — The Cambria Land Trust
Homeless Animal Rescue Team
HomeShareSLO
Joslyn Recreation Center
Native daughters and sons of the Golden West (separate groups)
Old Santa Rosa Chapel & Cemetery Committee
Pacific Wildlife Care
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office bicycle drive and Advisory Foundation
Senior Nutrition Program
Scouting groups
School groups, such as Bronco Boosters (Coast Union High School)
Service clubs, such as Rotary, Lions and Odd Fellows IOOF No. 181
Sports clubs
University Women
Woods Humane Society
This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Plenty of places to give in Cambria during the holidays."