With Gratitude

As many of you know who either have been deployed while in the military or are a family member of a deployed serviceman/woman, it is unknown how long it will take for items to be received that were sent from the States. Such is the case for my son, Danny, who is “somewhere in the Middle East.”

I asked readers of the Crescenta Valley Weekly to drop or send notes of encouragement and good wishes to my boy, letting him know that though he is gone he not forgotten. In typical Crescenta Valley fashion, the response was wonderful and it gave me great pleasure to package up those letters and gifts and send them off to Danny’s wife, who forwarded them to her husband.

This past week I heard from Danny (we’re able to text) and he asked me to share the following: “Mom, please put in your column a thank you note to the readers who sent me letters and packages. Tell them I’m doing well and it’s nice to read those letters. I very much appreciate them.”

So, to the many people who took the time to remember my son who is so very far away, I too thank you. It means a lot. I’ll continue mailing letters that our readers drop by or mail to our office.

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Another thing that I’m very thankful for is the outpouring of support for the Prom Plus Leap Year bingo that we hosted over at the American Legion Hall on Saturday night.

As many of you know, I get so nervous before hosting an event, whether for Prom Plus or CV Weekly. Will people show up? Will everything work properly? Will we run out of food, drink or tickets? Will no one buy anything and we end up with leftover food and drink? The worries go on and on.

As usual, I shouldn’t have worried about a darn thing. First off, the vets at the Hall are old hands at having bingo games at their place and had everything ready to go. Second, the day’s weather couldn’t have been better. Let’s face it – if it’s rainy or too hot, you might have second thoughts about going out. But Saturday was gorgeous and the Hall filled with folks ready to win some money, invest in opportunity drawings and enjoy pizza and hot dogs. It was a great time to share the support by local businesses, people and friends of Prom Plus who sponsored the 13 games that were played.

It was good to see so many familiar faces (and some new ones) and I was particularly pleased to see Jennifer Freemon of the GUSD board of education, and Vickere Murphy of State Senator Anthony Portantino’s office (the senator also sponsored a game).

Particularly incredible were the presentations to Prom Plus and the Fire House of $1,500 (collectively) by the Moose Lodge and $2,000 to Prom Plus by the AM Kiwanis. With a budget of $25,000 these donations, plus the proceeds of the bingo game, helped a lot with reaching our goal.

Thank you to everyone who participated and I look forward to seeing you at this Saturday’s prayer breakfast at St. Luke’s at 9 a.m.

  robin goldsworthy