It’s a wrap!

Amy R. Spurgeon

Twenty rolls of holiday wrapping paper.

One hundred, fifteen toys.

Four rolls of ribbon.

Sixteen rolls of tape.

Eleven pairs of scissors.

Fifteen 7-year-old Brownies. Six troop moms and one troop grandma ... All

in the merry name of Christmas.”This is going to be the best Christmas

ever for my kids,” said Merle Hatleberg, director of Someone Cares Soup

Kitchen in Costa Mesa, reflecting on the community’s outpouring of gifts

for the soup kitchen. “I think we might be getting back to the reason for

the season.”

Newport Beach Brownie Troop 838 spent more than one hour Thursday

wrapping presents for the soup kitchen’s annual Christmas Eve Dinner.

Less than a week ago, the soup kitchen realized it desperately needed

gifts for the more than 1,500 children expected for the event.

In response, the community has donated hundreds of toys. But all of those

gifts posed a second problem -- wrapping them.

Learning about the soup kitchen’s bind prompted troop leader Holly Smith

to take action last week. She arranged to pick up 13 large boxes of toys

from the soup kitchen so the girls could wrap them at their scout meeting

Thursday.

One of the Girl Scout laws is to make the world a better place, so Smith

figured it was the perfect lesson just in time for Christmas.

“Homeless people don’t get Christmas trees to decorate,” said 7-year-old

Newport Beach resident Meghan Davis, who was missing her front tooth. “It

makes me feel much better to help wrap gifts because then they have stuff

for Christmas.

“Christmas is the time for giving,” she added.

The main room in the Neva B. Thomas Girl Scout House off Balboa Boulevard

was filled with wrapping paper, ribbons and chatting little girls

Thursday.Gifts included Nerf footballs, Buzz Lightyear dolls from the

Disney movie “Toy Story,” building blocks, McGruff the Crime Dog stuffed

animals and boxes of Barbies. Most of the girls had a strategy for

parting with the brand-new toys, but it was still difficult for others.

“You just wrap them up fast so that you can’t see them,” said 7-year-old

Jazmin Gardner of Newport Beach.

Some toys presented wrapping obstacles for the girls, such as large

stuffed animals with big noses or carousels with horses.”This one is hard

to wrap because it is huge,” said 7-year-old Alex Rousset of Newport

Beach.

Smith made a point of explaining to the girls prior to their wrapping

session that the gifts were for children who were less fortunate. The

girls listened attentively with wide eyes and offered their

interpretation on the subject.

“These kids all live in a great place and are all very fortunate,” said

Smith. “We thought it would be good to help.”Meanwhile, things were

bustling at the soup kitchen. Last-minute volunteers were stopping by to

help while others delivered more toys.

The soup kitchen will provide a ham dinner with all the trimmings on

Christmas Eve. Children will receive toys while parents will be given a

bag of fresh fruit. Soup kitchen staff said fruit and cans of vegetables

are still needed before Christmas Eve.

“The support from Newport-Mesa has been overwhelming,” said soup kitchen

manager George Neureuther.

Beyond fruits and vegetables, the soup kitchen also is seeking blankets

for the homeless.

The soup kitchen is at 720 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. For more information,

call (949) 548-8861.