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EAT, DRINK & PLAY   -   ENTERTAINMENT
Local Nonprofits Offer Fun and an Opportunity to Give Back
May, 2006 - Issue #19
Whether you're looking for unique ways to spend time with family and friends or the perfect chance to do a little something nice for those less fortunate, Santa Clarita organizations are ready to entertain you and move you to action.

Fun in the Sun

On May 6, the Placerita Canyon Nature Center will host its annual open house. Kids and adults will get up-close and personal with animals, pan for gold and learn about local flora and fauna while enjoying traditional country fair activities like face
On May 6, the Placerita Canyon Nature Center will host its annual open house. Kids and adults will get up-close and personal with animals, pan for gold and learn about local flora and fauna while enjoying traditional country fair activities like face
The Placerita Canyon Nature Center 30th Annual Open House
May 6, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Want to pan for (fake) gold? Enjoy rubber duckie races? Participate in a watermelon eating contest? Have your face painted? Play in one of the SCV's most natural treasures?

If the answer is yes, make your way to the Nature Center's family-centered, free event where kids and adults alike will enjoy the day learning about spinning wool, local flora and fauna, plus our town's original inhabitants. Food and drink will be on sale to satisfy your hunger and thirst, too.

A free shuttle-assisted off-site parking area will be provided. The event is at Placerita Canyon Nature Center, located at 19152 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall. Call 250-7721 for more information or e-mail placeritainfo@earthlink.net.

The 2006 Special Olympics Spirit Games
May 13

Looking for a chance to volunteer solo or as a family? The Special Olympics needs you for a day or just a few hours! More than 1,000 Special Olympics athletes from all over Southern California (individuals ages 8 to 80 with intellectual disabilities such as Down's Syndrome, autism and mild retardation) will participate in basketball, bocce, golf, swimming, tennis and track and field. To make this event successful, more than 600 volunteers of all ages are needed.

There are a variety of opportunities available to do your part: timers, huggers, musicians, cheerers, cooks and concession stand workers are all needed.

For more information call the Santa Clarita Valley Special Olympics at 253-2121 or e-mail santaclarita@sosc.org.

Easy Ways to Do your Part

Place a box or bag of non-breakable food items next to your mailbox before your letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday, May 13. The food donated will support Santa Clarita
Place a box or bag of non-breakable food items next to your mailbox before your letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday, May 13. The food donated will support Santa Clarita's neediest citizens.
Donate Food without Leaving Home
May 13

The Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry, with the National Association of Letter Carriers, will again host their 14th annual food drive - and you don't even have to leave home to participate.

Letter carriers throughout the nation gather non-perishable food from their customers and deliver it to local food charities. In Santa Clarita, the food drive generates literally tons of food, which is distributed by Santa Clarita's longest-running food charity - The Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry.

This year's food drive is a critical source of food for Santa Clarita's neediest citizens. "The National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive comes at the beginning of summer, when our local children are out of school and don't have access to the lunch programs they depend on during the school year," stated Executive Director Belinda Crawford. "The food donated by Santa Clarita residents through the Letter Carriers' Food Drive carries us through the summer months when donations are at their slowest."

All citizens need to do is to place a box or bag of non-breakable food items next to their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday, May 13. The letter carriers collect the food and transport it to the local post office. Volunteers for the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry transport the food from the post office sites to the Food Pantry that same day.

For information about food donations for the NALC Food Drive contact the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry at 255-9078 or e-mail info@scvfoodpantry.org.

Send $10 to the Senior Center

This year's SCV Senior Center 2005-06 Annual Campaign Fundraiser fell tragically short. "$10 Bucks to a Better Future," which runs from December 1 to February 28 each year, asks all Santa Clarita Valley residents to contribute $10 yearly for the SCV Senior Center to assure that services will be available to meet the community's future needs as the Baby Boomer population ages and needs assistance.

While the center offers a hearty "Thank you!" to all who did contribute to their final total of $9,853 for the 2005-2006 campaign, there was a 23.4-percent loss over the previous year. The SCV Senior Center participation grew 14 percent in fiscal year 2004-05, with more and more seniors needing vital and comprehensive services, leaving an ever-widening funding gap.

For questions about services or how you can help meet growing needs, call Maria Linares at 259-9444. The Center's location and mailing address is 22900 Market Street, Santa Clarita, CA 91321-3608.

Join Compassionate Effort to Share a Bucket of Love

Help the world
Help the world's poorest populations by filling Buckets of Love with life-essential items.
Join Global Action, a Colorado-based international nonprofit, in filling 12,000 ordinary buckets with practical items by Mother's Day. These Buckets of Love are distributed to needy families, mostly women and children, living in abject poverty in Sri Lanka. Santa Clarita is one of six cities participating in Buckets of Love around the nation this spring.

Nearly one billion people live in the slums of developing nations, most of them women and children. They are the poorest of the poor - the most vulnerable on earth. Every day they face hunger, disease, war and tragedy. Buckets of Love provides the compassionate residents of Santa Clarita with a hands-on way to impact a hurting family around the world.

Global Action will provide (free of charge) empty 12-quart plastic buckets and shopping lists for individuals, organizations or businesses to fill with inexpensive but essential items like duct tape to patch a leaky roof, band-aids to cover a child's wound or a needle and thread to mend ragged clothes. And, of course, the bucket can be used to carry fresh water. Many families also include personal notes and photos so that recipients can connect with caring friends in America.

Buckets of Love is seeking help from Santa Clarita residents to provide immediate aid for destitute people. For more information on the Buckets of Love initiative, visit www.bucketsoflove.org.

See a Show

Santa Clarita Ballet at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center
June 10, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Santa Clarita Ballet presents two enchanting ballets, "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Saturday, June 10 at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center.

"Beauty and the Beast" features the Santa Clarita Ballet Company, academy students and special guest artists. The ballet is set to impressionistic themes of early 20th century composers Claude Debussy and Jacques Faure.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of the most exquisite ballets in the Santa Clarita Ballet's repertoire and is considered by many to be choreographer Carol Guidry's finest work. The Company and special guest artists perform to the beautiful score composed by Mendelssohn, which includes his famous "Wedding March."

For tickets and information call the Santa Clarita Ballet at 251-6844.

Route 66 Classic Car Show to Benefit Safe Rides
May 13, June 10, July 8, August 12, September 16, October 14, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Great free family entertainment is yours to enjoy, especially if there are car lovers in the group. If a live '50s band, dozens of cool cars and raffle prizes weren't enough, the event also benefits a good cause - the SCV Chapter of Safe Rides.

A full 100 percent of the vehicle registration fee is given to the nonprofit organization. For more information, call Route 66 Classic Grill, located in Canyon Country, at 298-1494.
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