[ Girls & Boys Town of Southern California ]

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Annual holiday festivities at the Girls and Boys Town of Southern California Trabuco Canyon Residential Campus took place this past Sunday on a beautiful day in the hills of Orange County. The event included Christmas carols at each house courtesy of a local Brownie troop, a visit from Santa Claus, and special recognition for the organization's work from U.S. Congressmen Ed Royce and John Campbell. Also attending were a reporter and photographer from the Orange County Register which resulted in a feature story on the front page of the paper's Local section and on its web site, with a combined readership of over 1 million people.

Boys Town's impact still felt today

By DEEPA BHARATH
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Monday, December 11, 2006

Children sang Christmas carols and Santa gave out hugs as the fragrance of cider and freshly baked cookies wafted across the street in this refuge for foster youths.

Nestled in the serene hills of Trabuco Canyon, the Girls and Boys Town of Southern California's Orange County campus came alive with Christmas cheer Sunday afternoon at its annual open house.

The program provides shelter and support for 33 children who have suffered from abuse or neglect.

Program Director Seana Inducil said some of the homes keep siblings together, which is rare in many foster homes.

Sunday's event was attended by Brownie Troop 1231 from St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel.

The organization also received certificates of recognition from the offices of Rep. John Campbell and Rep. Ed Royce.

Founded by Father Edward J. Flanagan in 1917 as Boys Town in a rundown Victorian mansion in Omaha, Neb., the organization now has 19 sites across the country caring for more than 46,000 children.

Father Flanagan, an Irish immigrant, became internationally known after the 1938 film "Boys Town," starring Spencer Tracy as the priest and Mickey Rooney as a wayward teenager. The movie won an Oscar for Tracy, who donated the statuette to the organization. The award is still displayed at its headquarters in Omaha.

In 1948, Flanagan traveled with President Harry Truman to Europe to discuss the future of children orphaned or displaced by World War II. He died during that trip of a heart attack in Berlin.