WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Dec. 18, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Employees of Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Navigation Systems Division will contribute $15,000 in gifts to needy families in the San Fernando Valley during the holidays, thanks to the company's Adopt-A-Family program.
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Northrop Grumman employee volunteers, wearing traditional Santa suits, and their helpers will deliver between $400 and $500 in gifts to the homes of each selected family. Recipients are selected by El Centro De Amistad, Inc., a non-profit, social services/United Way agency in Canoga Park, Calif., that supports the needs of low-income residents of the San Fernando Valley.
"Contributions come in 25 to 50 cents at a time when a Navigation Systems Division employee buys an item at an Adopt-A-Family sponsored event," said Kathy Fodor, chairman of the Navigation Systems Division Adopt-A-Family committee. "Adopt-A-Family depends on the generosity of our employees to meet the needs of the families we reach out to during the holiday."
The Adopt-A-Family committee plans, organizes and hosts the activities and holiday gift deliveries, as well as collecting employee gifts and donations. Adopt-A-Family sponsored in-plant sales of art, baked goods, candy, plants and books held throughout the year, as well as holiday gift boutiques, also generate funds to help the families.
"Employees contribute holiday gifts, make cookies and cakes for bake sales, volunteer for fund-raising activities and help with holiday gift shopping and delivery," Fodor added. "They also donate the proceeds from their own fundraising activities or give cash donations to Adopt-A-Family. These activities give all Navigation Systems Division employees an opportunity to participate in this important community outreach."
The highlight of Adopt-A-Family activities is gift distribution night, when Santa greets the children of each recipient family and hands out small gifts while his volunteer helpers deliver the remainder of the food and gifts. On distribution night, a portion of the Navigation Systems Division's parking lot is dedicated to each recipient family. Volunteers allocate the food and gifts, load them into their vehicles, pick up Santa and his helpers and depart to make their deliveries.
A member of the Northrop Grumman Employee's Recreation Clubs started the Adopt-A-Family gift distribution and visits by Santa in 1990. The club selected four needy families, and employees contributed money to purchase gifts, toys and food and made the deliveries to the families. Adopt-A-Family has expanded and now plans to meet the needs of 25 to 30 families.
Headquartered in Woodland Hills, the Navigation Systems Division is part of Northrop Grumman's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector. The division supplies situational awareness products for international and domestic defense and commercial markets and offers integrated avionics, navigation and positioning systems for space and high-value platform products, navigation-grade and tactical-grade inertial systems, fiber-optic gyro systems designed to customer requirements, underwater fiber-optic sensors, identification friend-or-foe transponders and interrogators, cockpit displays and computers, and logistic support products and services.
