Community news: Road Kings play Santa Claus to reservist, Roberta Moody celebrates 90th birthday
Ten members of the Burbank Road Kings took a road trip of a charitable kind the Sunday before Christmas. They played Santa Claus, but instead of arriving by sleigh, they delivered a special gift to a woman in need via classic vehicles.
The car club wanted to help a family this holiday season and heard about Sarah Haynes through local businessman Charlie Cusumano, who supports projects to help the military. Haynes served four years as a Marine and is now in the reserves while she cares for her mother and sister who have health issues. She is enrolled in a college program and plans to apply for officer training school upon graduation next year, she said.
The car club’s president, Rick Kalisz, led the caravan over to Riverside Drive where they lined their autos up in front of her apartment and presented her with a beautifully wrapped gift basket filled with $500 worth of gift cards.
“She’s just trying to get back into society, and it’s very, very difficult because a lot of the military, when they come back from war, they don’t have a place to look for a job, so it’s a slow time for her right now,” Kalisz said.
This year is the first time the club set aside some money from their fundraisers to help someone during the holidays, he added. They raise the funds with two car shows a year, one held at Johnny Carson Park and the other at Santa Anita Park.
“We wanted to keep (the holiday project) in Burbank because the club is here in Burbank and it’s just about giving back and that’s what we’re about — giving back and trying to do some good things for the city,” Kalisz said.
When Haynes heard the rumbling of engines in front of her apartment building, she said she knew it was the Road Kings.
“I came out with my camera because I knew it was going to be a motorcade of all these rare cars. It was very impressive!” she added. “They all look brand new. The condition of their cars is better than my car.”
As she picked up the basket of gift cards for grocery stores and gasoline stations, she said, she needed every one of them.
“This is awesome! The Road Kings will always hold a place in my heart. I don’t even know these people, but they are willing to help, so that in itself is a blessing and a really perfect Christmas. I am going to get gas right now!”
Resident celebrates 90th with 100
Roberta (Roten) Moody celebrated her 90th birthday on Saturday with a party at the Crystal View Lounge at the Holiday Inn Burbank Media Center. With her actual birthday falling on Christmas Eve, the family chose to celebrate this momentous occasion the following weekend with more than 100 family and friends in attendance.
Roberta was born in Ft. Collins, Co., on Dec. 24, 1922. She moved with her family to California when she was 4, settling in Burbank when she was 8. Roberta attended the Burbank schools graduating from Burbank High School in the winter of 1941. That same year she met Alpheus Moody while both were employed at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. They married in 1942 and continued to live in Burbank where they raised their five children.
The party was given by her children: Sharon (Moody) Mittelholtz, Kathleen (Moody) Constantine, Marilyn (Moody) Richer, Ken Moody and Marjorie (Moody) Fuchs. In attendance were 10 of her 11 grandchildren and all 16 of her great-grandchildren; her brother and sister, Allen Roten of Lincoln, Calif., and Mary (Roten) Bogard of Irvine; nieces, nephews, and extended family members with some coming from as far as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Montana and Washington state.
Other guests included neighbors, friends and co-workers of the Burbank Unified School District where Roberta worked for 15 years prior to retiring in 2009.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be contacted at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.