Our Readers Write

Letters to the Editor

Battle of the Bands is Sunday in park

We would like to invite the La Cañada community to PEACE, LOVE and MUSIC: a battle of the bands for social justice awareness this Sunday, April 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. at La Cañada Memorial Park.

This concert and volunteer opportunities day is our Girl Scout Gold Award Project. The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive and requires 60 hours of work toward a project that helps the community.

We wish to raise awareness for social justice organizations, give local kids an opportunity to volunteer, and give local high school bands experience in performance.

Organizations such as Operation Gratitude, Best Buddies, AIDS Service Center, and ONE will send representatives to speak about each of the groups’ purposes and how local kids and families can help. The bands battling for a chance to have their CD sent to Fox for consideration for a movie soundtrack include Legion (La Cañada), Crowned and Crooked (La Cañada), Imagenetics (La Cañada and South Pasadena), Perception is Reality (La Cañada), and Urban Isolations (Pasadena).

There will also be a raffle for great prizes and snacks for sale. Each raffle ticket “costs” a can of food which will be donated to a local food bank. Bring a chair, lots of canned food and your family and friends for a fun day of PEACE, LOVE and MUSIC in the park! Sincerely, — Caroline Reich and Julia Rowe, La Cañada

Thanks from Easter in Park organizer

Mother Nature was very kind to over 450 area residents who showed up April 11 at Memorial Park for Easter in the Park, the annual event that features egg hunts, live musical review, hat parade, bunny raffle and more.

Over 350 youngsters participated in the egg hunts this year and about 20 children put on their springtime hats for the traditional Hat Parade. Parents can go to www.dilbeck.com/easterinthepark to view, save and print photos of this year’s event.

Julie Modglin, Lynn Beckenhauer and Carole Kunz co-chaired the event and did an amazing job making sure everything was taken care of, from assigning agents to blowing up balloons, selling raffle tickets, and making sure there were people manning the many activities. Twenty-five agents donated the cuddly bunnies for the bunny raffle, which benefited Tierra Del Sol. Eighty bunnies were raffled off and $520 was raised.

Boy Scout Troop 502 helped us in so many ways. A gigantic thank you to these wonderful young people who represent the youth of our community. The Scouts not only manned the water table but also acted as security on the many blow-up bounce & climb toys.

It was great having our friends from the Montrose Search and Rescue with one of their vehicles in attendance along with the Glendale and Pasadena Humane Society with some of their four-legged friends.

Thank you to Bunny Sponsors: La Cañada Flintridge Parks and Recreation Commission, Sakura Restaurant, Tony Parisi, Tri Pacific Termite and Wells Fargo Bank. Chick Sponsors included AMM & Asoc. Court Reporter Services, Bob Smith Toyota, Castle & Gray, Chris Pate, Dolci Mango, Dr. Thomas Sawyer, Fidelity National Home Warranty, First American Home Buyers Protection, Gilmore Bank, Jasmine Salon & Spa, Joyce Sokoloff, Noteworthy Moving, Printefex, Inc., The Real Estate Book, Sparkle & Shine, and Z Pizza in Burbank. Peep Sponsors were Dr. Barton Conroy, Paul’s Professional Window Cleaning, Hair by Shawn, Jazzercise, Hair Works, Rise ‘N Shine Café and Joy Campbell (Bella Hair).

Again this year, our friends from the Paper Rabbit in Montrose, spent the morning painting bunny faces on hundreds of youngsters.

Thanks to both local newspapers The La Cañada Valley Sun and The La Cañada Outlook, for not only getting the word out and supporting us with advertising space, but also for making financial donations.

Dilbeck agents Janet Ames, Linda Hall, Jim Nigra, Ray Combs, Virginia Swope and Julie Mahoney also contributed money to help defray expenses.

A special thank you to our friend Bill Geist, from Event Power Assoc., for setting up the sound system. And making sure everyone could hear our emcee, Dave Stelmach, a sales partner from our LCF office.

A big thank you goes to Rowena (from the dynamic team of Fran & Rowena), who donated her special talents as the Easter Bunny for the sixth year.

Twinkle Time’s, Twinkle, Funny & Happy entertained the crowd of youngsters with their high-energy musical show, much to the delight of children and parents.

We had a wonderful morning. I think an event like this makes us all realize what special communities La Cañada and La Crescenta are and how fortunate we are to be part of them. Thanks to everyone involved and we look forward to seeing you next year at Easter in the Park. — Bev Widney, Dilbeck Realtors

Thanks to letter she found more kin

Hello again! I just wanted to thank you for printing my letter in your newspaper [“Trying to trace a long-lost friend,” Our Readers Write, April 16].

I had several lovely replies within hours of the paper being issued, all giving me little snippets of information; sadly we have discovered that Clyde S. Hodder, formerly of Westlope Lane in La Cañada, died in 2000.

However, the best news of all is that I have just had an e-mail from one of Clyde’s daughters and it turns out that Clyde was not only a friend of the family, but a relation. So we have discovered a whole new branch of the family.

I am so pleased with the response from your readers — you really do have some helpful and kind residents in La Cañada.

Kind regards, — Elaine Kassell, Gwernaffield, Flintshire, U.K.