By Charly SHELTON

The holiday season is a time for giving, a time for reaching out to fellow humans and a time for coming together in the spirit of the season. For the 43rd consecutive year, Vito Canella and his daughter, Grace Chase, hosted their annual Christmas party on Sunday at Holy Redeemer Church and invited the residents of many group homes for the mentally disabled to celebrate Christmas with them.

“I only see some of these folks once a year, they always remember my name, they always remember to say thank you, they always to remember to be grateful,” Chase said. “It makes us all realize that what Christmas is about is sharing, giving and creating memories for people, and that’s what we do.”

Cannella’s daughter Anna, Grace’s sister, is autistic and was with Tierra del Sol Foundation in Sunland for over 30 years. Cannella noticed that many of the programs meant to help the mentally disabled weren’t particularly active at Christmas, and that’s when they needed cheering up the most. In response, he decided to put on a Christmas party with dinner, dancing and presents for everyone at Tierra. It has since expanded to welcome guests from group homes and centers from Burbank, Glendale and the Crescenta Valley.

“I used to do the whole thing myself but then my daughter came in and she started to help take over the party with other people. I concentrated on trying to get some money for Tierra del Sol because I feel that I should repay them for what they did for my daughter,” Cannella said.

After a pasta dinner, Revolution Dance Center put on a holiday dance show for the attendees and then welcomed everyone up to dance together for a few songs. Then the man of the hour arrived – Santa Claus – who called out each attendee by name and gave each person a bag of wrapped Christmas presents to take home. For many, Chase said, these are the only presents and the only holiday celebration they will have this year.

“It’s Christmas, this is what Christmas is all about. [It] wouldn’t be the same without doing this. It’s special,” said Lou Fritz, who has been playing Santa Claus at the annual party for nearly 40 years. His mother made him his Santa suit when he was a young man and now he is a grandfather, still using the same suit.

“[I love] to see the same people every year and how much they look forward to this event and how much it means to them; that’s real special. And Vito has been doing it forever and now Grace is taking over for him because of his age. But this gets you in the spirit. It really does,” Fritz said. “And I can’t believe how much the community has gotten behind it. We started really small, with 10 families cooking turkeys for group of 40 or 50 people, and look at it now. It’s pretty amazing.”

The entire event is donation driven, with Cannella focusing on raising the funds to host the dinner and Holy Redeemer Church handling the present donations from its congregants and the community-at-large. Each year is slightly different depending on the donations and availability but it always turns out well. And with 43 years under their belts, the Cannella family will keep this party going year after year.

“Actually, I was thinking this morning, I know that when I’m gone this party is going to be going on forever. [Grace] can do the party herself even when I’m gone,” Cannella said. “That’s the best thing that happened, that she took it over and I know that from now on the party is going to be done to thank Tierra for giving my daughter a chance to go to school and to learn.”

To get involved in next year’s party or to help with the cost, email Grace Chase at  ChaserMama@AOL.com.

  Charly Shelton