Easter Egg Hunt Is Reseda Woman’s Gift Basket to Children

Every Easter Sunday for 16 years, children have swarmed onto a quiet Reseda street and turned it into a carnival barker’s dream.

“Come one, come all to Jody’s 16th Annual Easter Egg Hunt” reads the flyer, 1,000 of which have been distributed throughout the Valley. “Starts at noon, 2,500 eggs to find. Games, Magic, Gifts. Everything is Free!! All Children Welcome!!”

The mastermind and organizer of this affair is Jody Young, a 38-year-old computer programmer and mother of five. To fund the increasingly elaborate Easter egg hunt, Young pecks away at computer terminals at three companies, working on programs late into the night.

“I start saving the day after Easter each year for the next one,” she said.

The center of the egg hunt is Young’s home on the 19000 block of Lorne Street. In recent years, however, neighbors have also loaned their lawns for the festivities.

The tradition began when Jody and her husband, Curt, hid two dozen eggs for her toddlers. Some neighborhood children came over, intrigued. The following year, more children asked if she would hide eggs again.

Responsibility to the Less Fortunate

What began as a simple family tradition is no longer just a few pastel-colored eggs stashed in some bushes. Young expanded the celebration, she said, because “I wanted to teach my kids that there are a lot of people out there not as well off as we are--physically and in other ways--and I wanted to teach them they have a responsibility to help them.”

So Young annually turns over her Reseda home to legions of children--particularly underprivileged and handicapped children--who might not have their own festivities, and stages a massive Easter egg hunt with all the trimmings.

At noon on Easter, hundreds of children converge at Young’s Lorne Street home (last year 487 were counted, and this year 600 are expected) to search for thousands of eggs and be greeted by a life-size, handshaking Easter bunny, usually chauffeured in a limousine and flanked by Big Bird on a motorcycle.

Young’s Easter gala also includes a magic show, a mime, pinatas, all kinds of sandwiches, cake and ice cream and colorful machines that churn out those childhood favorites, cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones. Each child also receives a prize, usually a stuffed bunny or lamb chosen for its cuddly qualities. Those who collect the most eggs in their age group win giant Easter baskets, she said.

On Saturday morning Young’s living room is crammed full of bags of stuffed animals and large chocolate Easter eggs.

“I never count up the prizes, but it’s amazing every year we seem to have enough,” Young mused.

‘The Good Lord’s Plan’

Nothing seems to slow Young down. Two years ago she was diagnosed as having stomach cancer and told she had only 18 months to live. But contrary to medical predictions, Young’s cancer is in remission. A large and seemingly strong woman, Young is very much alive, so full of energy that she says she sleeps only about three hours each night.

“The good Lord still keeps me ticking,” Young said. “He’s got a plan for me.”

Young believes the plan is to bring some joy into the lives of children who might otherwise be lacking it.

A Southern Baptist, she is impassioned about helping others. At Christmas, she sings carols to the hospital-bound and brings them gifts. At Thanksgiving, she focuses her attention on lonely veterans and brings them turkey dinners. Between holidays, she has volunteered for the Parent-Teacher Assn. and the United Way and protested nuclear weaponry. She also takes in stray pets; her comfortable home, situated on a half-acre lot, is home to four cats and a dog.

Brought Up Helping Others

Young attributes her generous nature to her upbringing.

“My dad was always helping out other people, and he said since God has always been good to us and supplied us with what we need, we should help others,” she said.

Young blankets the San Fernando Valley with flyers publicizing her Easter egg hunt, particularly at schools for the handicapped and at small nursery schools where she knows many single parents leave their children. She has even been known to accost people with children in supermarkets, asking them if they’d like to attend.

Lest her motives be misunderstood, Young said, “I explain right off the bat that it’s totally free.”

However, it is far from free for Young. She won’t say how much she spends, but she acknowledged, “It’s in the thousands.”

Family Cooperation

Young’s family pitches in to help. Her 19-year-old son customarily doubles as the Easter Bunny, and her 12- and 16-year-old sons clean the yard and help set up tables and prizes.

During the egg hunt, her children and another 30 helpers, wearing “Eggstra Special Person” T-shirts, assist young revelers and ward off bedlam.

“It seems like everybody works hand in hand, and that makes it fun for everyone,” she said. “I never turn down anyone’s offer to help.”

Sure enough, on Saturday morning, in the midst of egg-dyeing, a couple and their small son show up on Young’s doorstep, introducing themselves as friends of a friend.

“Are you here to help dye eggs?” asks Young.

“We’re here to do whatever you need done,” a middle-aged man responds.

“Come on in. There’s plenty to do.”

Curt Young, who owns a gas station in Panorama City, also helps out, shaking his head in wonderment when discussing his wife’s increasingly ambitious undertaking.

“I’m used to it. My wife’s crazy,” he says good-naturedly.

Eggs Dyed in Record Time

The 2,500 eggs--dyed by a dozen children aged 3 to 12 who are assisted by six adults on Saturday morning--are completed in two hours, a record time. In previous years it took four, Young said, adding that the system for dyeing has been streamlined and improved.

Young said her only regret is that her brother and his children have never been able to make the trip from Plano, Tex., for one of her egg hunts. However, she said, children from as far away as Illinois have attended, and recently she has run into people who had first come to the egg hunt as children and now come with young children of their own.

“It touches a lot of people, and that’s what it’s for,” Young said. “If I can give just one kid something he can look back on and remember, it’s worth it.”