The Christmas Guardian Angel Program at Doctors Hospital of Manteca has been alive and well this yuletide season with employees buying and wrapping gifts for children in need throughout the hospital’s Manteca, Ripon and Lathrop service area.
Hospital human resources manager Brenda Holzer said she was pleased to see that the hospital once again partnered with Community of Hope Children’s Crisis Services to help some of the region’s most needy children.
HR specialist Denise Johnson said the gifts that piled into their office represented thousands of dollars spent by the hospital employees attempting to make a perfect Christmas morning for the boys and girls of the Children’s Crisis program.
The program allows the children who have been referred for services to “just be children and have a few wishes granted, allowing them to enjoy the holiday and forget their circumstances and celebrate at just being a child for the one special day.”
Bobby Burch, husband of the hospital’s ICU and CCU Director Tina Burch supported the kids at his recent birthday party last weekend.  He had asked that anyone planning to bring him a present make it a toy for the children in the crisis program – something that would please him the most.  
Employees were asked to stop by the second floor human resources office and select a handmade scroll that included a handwritten poem by the children containing he child’s name and their three wishes  being able to choose one, two or three of those wishes.
 “Feel free to team up with your coworkers and note that video game systems, toys resembling guns and knives and movies and DVDs without ratings are not allowed in the program,” the request stated.
The Community of Hope Children’s Crisis Services will deliver the gifts to the children for Christmas morning, it was noted.

One of those poems penned by children read:
“They say there are Christmas Guardian Angels
        I wonder if that can truly be
  People who care and love kids like us
If you are, thank you for choosing me.”