Community Leaders Set to Match Wits At  27th Annual Smart-A-Thon

An excited crowd of over 140 community leaders is expected to gather on Wednesday, May 20 for the 27th Annual Smart-A-Thon in the council room of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. The crowd will include teams from the offices of Congressman Adam Schiff and Assemblyman Mike Gatto, Crescenta Valley High School instrumental music, Clark High School robotics, Rosemont Middle School, Crescenta-Cañada Rotary, GUSD and many others.

“We are sharpening our wits for this ‘friendly’ competition,” said Chris Waldheim who has organized a team from J’s Maintenance. “If the questions from last year are any indicator for this year, we will need to know the answers to a variety of queries that range from knowing the largest U.S. state whose name begins with the letter N to the weight of the average man to knowing the life-expectancy of left-handed people or the number of times the average person will fall in love before they actually get married (the answer is seven). We are sharp and primed for outstanding performance! But, whatever happens, we are contributing to a great cause and we always have a great time. The education fund is making more and more of a substantial contribution to programs in our community.”

Proceeds support the Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce Education Fund, a donor- advised fund administered by the Community Foundation of the Verdugos. To date, the education fund has provided over $160,000 for outstanding educational programs in the Crescenta Valley.

This year’s masters of ceremonies will again be Captain Bill Song of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and Mike Smith of Bob Smith Toyota. This will be the 18th year Mike will be serving as an emcee.

“Everyone looks forward to the annual Smart-a-Thon,” said Aram Ordubegian, president of the CV Chamber and one of this year’s participants. “It is always so much fun – lots of surprises and such a great way to support the education fund. I can hardly believe that we have been doing this for 27 years and that all of this silly fun makes it possible to do so much good in the community.”

“We love coming to the Smart-A-Thon,” said Danette Erickson who is helping to organize teams. “It’s so much fun to see such a variety of community organizations represented and know that we are all pulling together to do our part to enrich our community.”

This year’s event will include a drawing to award three non-profit organizations a $500 grant each. In addition, the popular pot o’ gold drawing will be conducted so that the person who guesses the correct amount will select a non-profit organization to be the recipient. Last year, Penny Ledbetter’s answer was closest to the amount of $381.85 and she selected USC-VHH Women’s Council to be the recipient of the funds.

For more information or to make a reservation to participate, contact Lisa Dupuy at the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce at (818) 248-4957 or info@crescentavalleychamber.org. Reservations may be made for individuals at $35 each or teams of four at $140.

Lisa Dupuy, executive director

CV Chamber of Commerce

3131 Foothill Blvd. ‘D’

La Crescenta, CA 91214

(818) 248-4957

  Lisa DUPUY