ESCONDIDO -- It was difficult to tell who was happier at a party Tuesday at the North County Serenity House: Was it those giving the gifts, members of two Cal State San Marcos service clubs? Or the ones receiving them, residents and their children of four Serenity House facilities?

Representatives of the California Federation of the Blind and the Latino Club at CSUSM brought boxes filled with wrapped gifts, some made by members of the clubs, to the 99 women and 19 children who reside at the Serenity House shelters in Escondido.

When Juliet Cody, a blind student working on her master's degree in literature at CSUSM, walked onto the center's Escondido Boulevard property with her assistance dog "Marly," she was mobbed by many of the 19 children who live there. Only Santa, who arrived minutes later, got a bigger reception.

"This is the one way that I can give back for all the wonderful blessings that I have received in my life," said Cody, as she sat among the women, some recovering addicts, living temporarily at the Serenity House centers. "Even though I'm blind, I can still be thankful for all the help that I've received --â€" the scholarships and the assistance from people around me, like the members of the Latino Club at the school."

Cody, who lost her sight several years ago to retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye condition that causes night blindness and tunnel vision, said she had more than gift-giving on her mind when she made plans to attend the Tuesday party.

"I'm here today to pass out gifts to the children, but also because I want to show these ladies that you can live a beautiful life --â€" even if you have disabilities -- without being numb from the effects of drugs and alcohol," Cody said.

"Those are the kinds of things that can really ruin your life, and I want the ladies here to know that they don't have to go down that road again, that it's just not worth it," she said. "There is just so much more to life than having to deal with the problems associated with drugs and alcohol."

Staff members at the center seemed as happy as the residents and their children to have Santa arrive to pass out gifts supplied by the CSUSM student-led organizations.

"Marvelous, it's just marvelous what these people from the California Federation of the Blind and the Latino Club do for our residents," Serenity House director Michelle Lessa said.

"They come here every Christmas and they bring gifts and stuffed animals to the children here, and it just blesses them so much.

"The kids are blessed to receive the gifts, and I know the people who give them are certainly blessed."