Community Groups Seek Help for Holiday Drives

Members of the Harvard community will become active in two drives to aid Boston's poor during the holiday season, organizers said yesterday.

Last week, the Parker Hill Family Youth Development Council placed special drop-off boxes in the Medical School area where Harvard students and employees can make donations of food, clothing and toys, said Mili Roca, director of the council.

"I'm feeling good about the openness of Harvard," she added.

The Medical School, the School of Public Health, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Education and the Buildings and Grounds Department will be involved in the project, Richard J. Doherty '76 of the Harvard Office of Government and Community Affairs, said yesterday.

Goal

The goal of the drive is to meet the winter needs of more than 100 families in he Mission Hill neighborhood near the Medical Area, said Bruce E. Smith, coordinator of community relations for the School of Public Health.

State Rep. Kevin W. Fitzgerald's (D-Mission Hill/Jamaica) office was instrumental in coordinating Harvard's resources and the Parker Hill Council's concerns, and in raising donations for the poor in conjunction with other drives in the neighborhood.

"The feeling is that the institutions in the area can do a better job of working in conjunction with their host community," said Margaret Blood, an assistant to Fitzgerald.

Doherty is also aiding a local radio station by looking for Harvard volunteers to help with its. "Operation Santa Claus" project, a drive which has placed toy deposit boxes in about 32 downtown parking garages.

Paul McDermott, the owner of a public relations firm in Boston, has volunteered to collect more than 1000 toys for the Boston Children's Service, a central organization which helps Boston's neediest children.

The radio station, WMJX, provides hourly reminders to their listeners to donate what they can for the drive.

Michale J. Alter '83, assistant director of the Public Service Program, has asked several Harvard organizations to volunteer to pick up the toys every night this week in the parking garages.