On December 13th 2008, the Ventura Family YMCA will host its third annual Breakfast with Santa from 8 – 10 a.m. Admission to the event is FREE to community residents with a donation of an unwrapped gift which will be given to the Kids and Families Together Organization in Ventura. Kids & Families Together is a not-for-profit support, education and counseling resource center that provides services for individuals and families in foster care, kinship care and adoption.

The YMCA Breakfast with Santa provides children and their parents the opportunity to enjoy a pancake breakfast and meet with Santa who will be available to listen to all of the children’s Christmas wishes and take pictures. Children will also have the opportunity to create an ornament for the holidays which is always a big hit!

Each December the Ventura Family YMCA chooses a local not-for-profit to partner with. Past partners include Casa Pacifica, Kids to Kids and the VCMC Children’s Oncology Unit. All of the donations collected this year will be distributed between children and teens that are in current foster care homes in Ventura County through the Kids and Families Together Organization.

Kids and Families Together offers supportive resource where individuals, families, and community members can meet and share information and concerns. They also support the preservation of mental, physical and emotional health of the children and teens that are involved in foster care. The organization is hoping to shed light on an often forgotten demographic during the holiday season, teens. Teenagers usually get overlooked during toy drives, so they are asking for gift cards, bedding, and hygiene products like shampoo, conditioner and soap which is greatly needed. Unwrapped toys are also being accepted for the young children entered into the foster care program.

For more information about attending Breakfast with Santa please call Jennifer Rivard at 642-2131 ext. 25 or email Jennifer.Rivard@ciymca.org.

The Ventura Family YMCA serves over 20,000 individuals annually through facility memberships, before & after school childcare, day & resident camps, youth sports, swim lessons, teen programs, and many more healthy lifestyles and community enriching programs throughout Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, Santa Paula, and Saticoy. The Ventura Family YMCA is located at 3760 Telegraph Rd., Ventura, CA 93003. Visit www.venturaymca.org for more information.