Nonprofit creates gifts for incarcerated girls’ families

Members of Girls Inc. spent Saturday morning packing holiday gift boxes for families of incarcerated girls in Orange County Juvenile Hall, where the Costa Mesa nonprofit holds classes.

More than a dozen middle-school-age girls from the nonprofit’s Eureka! program, along with volunteers from the community, wrapped cardboard boxes and filled them with canned food, toys, school supplies and other items. Jennifer Navarro, the coordinator for Eureka!, said the annual gift drive usually benefited about 20 families, and Girls Inc. was aiming for 30 this time.

The nonprofit oversees classes in fitness and teen pregnancy prevention at Juvenile Hall. Navarro, who has delivered the boxes in the past, said they often took the families by surprise.

— Michael Miller