Get The Ink Out:

As Christmas quickly approaches, and I haven’t even started my shopping, I started thinking about all the charities we’ve covered in the Daily Pilot lately.

Share Our Selves’ Adopt-A-Family Program was the most prominent. I even told my mother all about it and how great I think it is.

Corporations or individuals can adopt a family and provide them with a holiday dinner, gifts for the children or, ideally, both.

This got me to thinking about what we as humans do for animals at this time of year, and I remembered Operation Santa Paws.

I first came across this collection drive in a Long Beach coffee shop a few years ago. I had just bought a bigger bed and had sheets from my old mattress sitting in the back seat of my car, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Standing there waiting for my latte, I noticed a big blue tub with a flier for “Operation Santa Paws,” saying dogs and cats at local shelters would very much like to have old blankets, towels and sheets to lie on instead of the cold concrete or metal cage floor.

Ditching my latte at the counter, I ran out and grabbed all my sheets and brought them back in and filled the tub. What a better thought than a kitty snuggling into a soft pile of sheets?

Thinking about how happy I was to be able to give back to the pet population, I spoke with Operation Santa Paws’ organizer and mastermind Justin Rudd this week.

He said he started this collection in 2001 based on something he’d participated in in his home state of Alabama. Back home the drop boxes were for humans, but here he thought he’d benefit animals.

The program has grown over the years, with Rudd encouraging participants to create their own mini collection drives.

People can go to his website, justinrudd.com, and download a flier to put up in their office or other public space, where they can collect anything from cat litter to Kong toys.

The collection ends today, but Rudd said anyone can donate items any time they like by taking it to their local shelters.

Rudd and his crew will be taking the donations to various shelters around town. For a full list of the recipients, visit his website.

“If anybody wants to help give out the toys and treats, they can meet us at the locations,” Rudd said. “It’s fun because the shelters let us visit with the dogs. They normally don’t let the public interact like that with the animals, so it’s an extra special day.”

In Costa Mesa, E.J. Hartloff, a recreation coordinator for the city’s Recreation Division, saw information about Operation Santa Paws online and knew as an animal lover that she had to get involved. Her collection drive has been successful so far, with multiple community centers taking donations.

“People say, ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing,’ and want to start their own [collection] next year,” Hartloff said.

The most surprising item so far has been kitten bottles for feeding the tiniest of kittens.

She will be taking her items to the O.C. Humane Society in Huntington Beach because the city has a contract with that shelter.

And even if you don’t make a donation to Operation Santa Paws, you can find out what your local shelter is looking for. It could be as simple as a sheet of stamps or just giving some time to walk a pooch.

JAMIE ROWE is a copy editor for the Daily Pilot. She can be reached at (714) 966-4634 or jamie.rowe@latimes.com. Her cat, Squee, really hopes she doesn’t buy that sweater she’s been eyeing for him.