Someone Cares -- obviously

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- Kara DeMille and Lauren McMeikan spent a good part of their

summer chopping vegetables, scooping butter and dishing out food at the

Someone Cares Soup Kitchen.

But the two 13-year-olds weren’t satisfied to stop there. They have

organized a toy drive so that 1,500 children will be given Christmas

presents this year.

“We’re teenagers, and we love getting presents for Christmas,” said

Lauren. “We were thinking how sad it was that other kids weren’t as

fortunate.”

Lauren and Kara, who are best friends and neighbors, began volunteering

together at the soup kitchen this summer to meet community service

requirements.

Lauren and her mother belong to the Assistance League, which requires

Lauren to perform community service. Kara attends St. Joaquim school,

where she is required to perform 40 hours of community service a year.

The experience has been a real eye-opener for the girls, said Lauren’s

father, Bruce McMeikan. He described Lauren’s surprise at finding out

that there were children who lived in cars.

“I think they learned a lot,” McMeikan said. “Otherwise, they think if

they want something, they just ask Mom and Dad.”

The girls were just two of many local teens who volunteered this year in

the kitchen. TeWinkle student Nick Smith, 12, has been coming nearly ever

other day, and a group of girls from St. John the Baptist High School in

Costa Mesa came throughout the summer, said George Neureuther, kitchen

manager.

The young people add a lot of life to the kitchen, he said. Lauren and

Kara have demonstrated that throughout the summer, giggling at almost

everything and having fun even when it’s their least favorite chore of

chopping vegetables.

The girls have begun their toy drive by canvassing their own

neighborhoods with fliers and performing pickups. Lauren, who was so

excited that a neighbor left toys on the curb for them, biked home with

the bags slung over her shoulder rather than wait for her father to get

home so they could pick them up.

“I was surprised, though, that not too many people were willing to give,”

Lauren said. “Only three people gave toys.”

But both the girls say they are determined to meet their goal by the

holidays and help the people they have a newfound respect for.

“I think they’re just trying to get back on their feet,” Lauren said.

FYI:

New or used toys in good condition may be dropped off at the Someone

Cares Soup Kitchen between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at 720 W. 19th Street.