OC Catholic school fulfills wish lists of 74 families at Twentynine Palms military base

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KABC) -- Packages filled with Christmas gifts for some families stationed at Twentynine Palms military base in San Bernardino County are boxed up and ready to go.

The presents were collected at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano through its Operation Christmas Love campaign.

"Finding ways to practice that virtue of generosity and a sense of service, and a sense of giving, really is a beautiful takeaway from this experience," said Charity Hauke, the special events coordinator at JSerra.

The gifts were loaded up onto a trunk Tuesday and will be headed to Twentynine Palms.

"Even if you guys are two-and-a-half hours away from us, it still shows that there's somebody out there that cares enough to get them gifts and think of them," said Twentynine Palms business development manager Raylina Thrasher.

This year, Hauke said Christmas wish lists for 74 families were fulfilled by students, their families and staff.

"There's a family that might have just one 6-month-old child and there's some families that have five children," she said. "For the larger families, we might have an entire baseball team or tennis team that will team up and adopt a larger family."

Students like senior Christopher Kempf said making Christmas a little brighter for military families makes the holiday season extra special.

"Just alleviating that stress or that worry from those parents that are doing so much for us already; it's the least we can do," Kempf said.

The gifts will be handed out on base over the next few weeks.

"They're so grateful," said Thrasher. "They send us a lot of thanks and just gratitude for the support that someone thought enough to purchase these gifts."