Last-Minute List for Santa
Okay Mr. Ho Ho Ho, it’s almost go-go-go time. Before you finish checking your list twice and taking off on your Amazing Race around the world, here are a few last-minute gifts to pack in your sleigh.
Give anyone who is upset about Ventura’s new ban on plastic shopping bags a couple reusable ones or a roll of dimes to pay the fees for paper bags.
Give small local businesses more of our business.
Give the world another Nelson Mandela – or as close a facsimile as possible.
Give a lump of coal to bullies – and a deadly computer virus to cyber bullies.
Give the NSA 40,000 copies of George Orwell’s “1984” for all its employees – or, more simply, just play one audiobook version over a cell phone and the NSA will take it from there.
Give Vin Scully a few more years behind the mic.
Give Dodgers fans the same as above.
Give Russia some enlightenment on homosexuality.
Give many Americans the same as above.
Give the 2014 Boston Marathon the most glorious Patriot’s Day imaginable.
Give all CEOs the mindset of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard who helped create the “1% For The Planet” program and since 1985 has donated 1% of company sales ($46 million) to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.
Give each and every member of Congress a pink slip.
Give America some sensible gun-control laws.
Give teachers extra school supplies so they don’t have to use their own money to buy them for their students.
Give every child spending the holidays in a hospital cancer ward a complete cure.
Give all adults battling cancer the same as above.
Give Rhiannon Potkey, who daily displays far more determination and courage than the athletes she covers, a cure for Fibromyalgia.
Give Mike and Bob Bryan each an extra trophy case – they’ll take care of filling it.
Give the Star’s Julius Gius Bellringer campaign a record total.
Give my humble Holiday Ball Drive, as it nears 100 new sports balls donated this year, a few more assists like these already dished out by, to name just a handful: Howard Reich, nine basketballs; Tom and Karyne Roweton, one football and one soccer ball; Sally and Tom Reeder, one volleyball, one soccer ball and one basketball; Glen Sittel, one football, one soccer ball, one basketball; and Alan Hammerand also one football, basketball and soccer ball, noting: “I chose the Boys and Girls Club because I saw the valuable services they provided to our youth during my career in probation. Quality after-school programs are a critical component in steering kids away from delinquency.”
Meanwhile, Linda and Jerry Mendelsohn donated 10 basketballs and 10 soccer balls to the Westpark Community Center, but the recipient children aren’t the only winners. As Jerry shared: “I took my grandson Garrick, now 3 ½, to purchase the balls with me, explaining to him how some kids are not as fortunate as he with toys, sports equipment, etc., and doing this will make them happy as well as us for helping out.”
And Jim Cowan helped out with his annual gift of 10 NBA basketballs, explaining: “These are in honor of the many people in my life that assisted me in developing enough skill at basketball that I was able to receive a college education! Among these folks was my dad, John Cowan. He nailed a coffee can to the garage door when I was a little boy, gave me a tennis ball to shoot with, and that was my start.
“Also my many coaches, including Cal Houston, Ventura Junior High School (now Cabrillo) who just turned 95 on Dec. 7; Bob Tuttle, Ventura High School; Elmer McCall, Ventura Junior College; and Aubrey Bonham, Whittier College. They not only taught me about basketball, but many life lessons as well. They were models I tried to emulate when I went into the field of education.”
Who can you honor by dropping off a new ball at a local youth group, fire station or other worthy charity in the next couple days? (If you do, email word of your donation to woodywriter@gmail.com).
Lastly, Santa, give anyone who reads this far a happy holidays and healthy 2014.
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for the Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. His new memoir WOODEN & ME is available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com and Amazon.com.