By  Dianne Anderson

Try as he might, the Grinch couldn’t steal Christmas from Evelyn Steele this year for hundreds of needy kids and families in Long Beach, who received coats, shoes, sit-down turkey dinner, toys and food bags to walk away with.

Evelyn Steele said that the buses were packed with homeless and other

low-income around Martin Luther King Park for pickup last Saturday to and from the Signal Hill National Guard Armory, where she holds the event annually.

Close to 500 people left with arms full of bags of food and toys. Just a few weeks ago, she was wondering if they would be able to get any kind of meat for dinner.

“We had turkey, we had beef and we had ham,” she said.

Buses came by way of Supervisor Don Knabe, along with extra funding to help prepare for the event, Steele said she received sizable donations from Walmart and several local community partners of toys, shoes, food and 1,000 mostly-new coats. Major Grump at the U.S. Armory on Streans Avenue also supported the event.

“One of my church members donated a box of about 45 toys, and I had other people just giving a few toys here and there, and it adds up,” she said. “We were able to give toys to the little ones.”

Students at Newcomb Elementary, the Girl Scouts, a local real estate business also pulled off serious coat drives for adults, infants and children. A local tire company donated about 80 boxes of groceries, fruit, canned goods, ready-to-eat food for the homeless, and other staples. They also donated toys for almost 100 kids.

Usually, she tries to partner up with the city or individuals on dinner for turkeys, but this year, she had no idea where dinner would come from until the last minute. Out of the blue, a retired police officer who supported her program in the past called to see if she still had the armory event going on. He had one contact for her, a friend of a friend at a mom and pop store.

“I said oh, okay. He told me that the guy was a millionaire, and had been giving groceries away. He said ‘what do you need?’”

She got 20 turkeys and all the fixings.

Steele has been feeding the poor for years, and somehow food always comes through.

“It’s not mysterious, it’s God,” she said.

On Christmas Day, she plans on just relaxing. This week she and her husband celebrate their 48th anniversary.

“Hopefully, he’ll be taking me out to dinner,” she laughs.

Over at the Long Beach NAACP, vice-president Jesse Johnson said they made their Christmas list and checked it twice, providing new gifts for over 1,000 kids that lined up around the corner for their annual toy giveaway.

“It’s been harder to get the toys than in previous years,” he said. “We hoped to have a toy for every child.”

Toys had been already designated for each child, and each had to bring their letter so they could make sure not to run short, but every year, there are unexpected guests. Some people don’t hear about the event until a few days before.

“We always have some that don’t have the letter, and they get the remaining toys until we don’t have any more,” he said.

Johnson said that it is disturbing to watch the toy line grow longer each year.

“But for the most part, we’ve been able to give a toy to all of the kids that arrive, even though they were not pre-screened,” he said.

For donations, call Evelyn Steel 562.313.9694.