Community: Lions share the love at Burbank Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
Members of the Burbank Noon Lions Club spent their Valentine’s Day sharing love at the Burbank Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. The Lions stopped by the rooms and gave each patient a plush heart.
Those participating were the group’s President William Narez and his wife, Mary Jo, Marva Murphy, Bud and Cindi Alleman and Brenda Lantieri.
It’s a service project the Lions have been doing since 1989. The center is close to the members’ hearts because several Lions have been patients there.
“It’s touching for us,” Lantieri said.
“We want everyone to feel remembered,” Murphy said.
The group raises funds for this project and others by sending solicitation letters to businesses and individuals. They also provide the low-income community with eye- and ear-care screenings for adults and eye screenings through the Kids Sight Project for youngsters.
Performing for patients in the auditorium was the Van Bloem Singers led by Burbank top volunteer Elaine Paonessa. The show was titled “From Broadway With Love,” appropriately for Feb. 14.
The singers appear at special events, club fundraisers as well as senior residences and healthcare facilities. To book the group, call Paonessa at (818) 845-6851.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with brunch
The Burbank Civitan Club will have its 45th annual St. Patrick’s Day Champagne Brunch this Sunday at the Pickwick Gardens Banquet Center, 1001 Riverside Drive, Burbank.
The Pickwick’s regular buffet brunch will include corned beef and cabbage. Entertainment will be by the Irish dancers from the O’Connor School of Irish Dance. There will also be music for dancing, a silent auction and door prizes with proceeds going to BCR “a place to grow,” the annual Baseball Jamboree for hundreds of Hap Minor Baseball players, Special Olympics and the Civitan International Research Center for the Mentally Challenged.
For reservations or membership information, call Elaine Paonessa at (818) 845-6851 or DeeDee Ruhlow at (818) 843-6950.
Flight pioneer is topic of museum program
Aviation historian and author Barbara H. Schultz will speak about Moye W. Stephens, the co-founder of Northrop Corp., during a talk hosted by the Burbank Historical Society at 2 p.m. on March 19 at the Gordon R. Howard Museum in Burbank.
Northrop was a leading U.S. aircraft manufacturer, formed in 1939. It merged with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. Schultz’s book, “Flying Carpets, Flying Wings” features interviews with Stephens about his friends and his achievements in aviation.
Stephens flew with Howard Hughes, Allan Hancock, Jack Northrop and others during the 1920s. This led to a career as a captain, flying Ford Tri-motor aircraft for Maddux Air Lines out of Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale.
In 1931, Stephens began an 18-month round-the-world flight piloting author Richard Halliburton in a Stearman C3-B dubbed the Flying Carpet. Lockheed hired Stephens to promote its new Electra in the late 1930s. In 1939, Stephens co-founded Northrop Corp., where he served as chief test pilot.
“When I interviewed Moye, he was more interested in talking about his friends than himself,” Schultz said. “He was a very humble man who accomplished a lot.”
Schultz is a pilot, her husband is a retired chief test pilot for General Electric and both their sons are pilots. She’s on her fifth book about aviation history. For more information on Schultz’s books, visit littlebuttesbooks.com.
Admission to her talk is free. The Burbank museum is next door to the Creative Arts Center in Izay Park, 1100 W. Clark Ave.
Raising funds for summer youth project
Connie Barron Trimble led the kitchen staff of youngsters serving up the best pancakes in the city during the Shrove Tuesday dinner at the First United Methodist Church.
Trimble learned to flip the flapjacks while helping her mom and dad at Barron’s restaurant on Burbank Boulevard many years ago.
Taking a turn at the grill was Bradley Gregoire, 21. A few feet away washing dishes were Riley Young, 8; Isaiah Kim, 6, the pastor’s son; and Spencer Solverg, 11. One of the waitresses was Charlotte Walz, 11, who said she enjoyed talking to the people and going to the kitchen to get their food.
Proceeds will go to the Sierra Service Project, said youth director Alyssa Butler. The church youth, ages 13 to 18, will spend one week this summer at an Indian reservation helping to build a church, a home or other project.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Butler said. “It shows them what blessings they have here. You see how you can use your blessings to help those less fortunate.”
Family Promise goes to bat at Dodger Stadium
Family Promise of the Verdugos is having its second annual gala Home Run to End Homelessness on March 19 at Dodger Stadium.
This year’s event includes a VIP tour of the stadium and silent auction, reception and dinner in the Stadium Club. Tickets are $150. For reservations visit FamilyPromiseVerdugos.org or call (818) 847-1547.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.