Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!
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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:
Woody Woodburn
400 Roosevelt Court
Ventura, CA 93003
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Early Christmas for 2018 Ball Drive
In my boyhood, I fondly remember picking wild blackberries and raspberries on humid summer days spent at a weekend cabin retreat in rural Ohio. My three siblings and I literally filled pail after pail with ripe berries despite the fact that nearly as many went directly into our mouths.
Despite their ready abundance, these gathered berries – and store-bought strawberries as well – in summertime were always a delicious treat. Too, an expected one.
Some of last year’s gift balls for disadvantaged kids.
Berries in the wintertime, in the Midwest, however, are something I cannot recall from my youth. I am sure they were available at the supermarket in the 1960s for a premium, but Mom never brought them home.
So it was a magical winter indeed when my family took a Christmas vacation to Ventura in 1971. I had never before seen the ocean in person, much less bodysurfed and built sandcastles; explored tidal pools at low tide and chased a “grunion run” under a full moon’s high tide.
And here is something else new and magical: fresh strawberries in wintertime. Instead of by the bucketful as with Ohio blackberries, we enjoyed Ventura County strawberries by the overflowing “flat.”
The following summer we moved from Columbus to Ventura and plump strawberries became year-round fare. Still, in my mind, “strawberries in wintertime” has remained synonymous for an unexpected treat.
I received such a treat this summer in an email from John Knittle. More accurately, I guess, it proved to be “Christmas in June.”
Knittle is a member of the Camarillo-Somis Lions Club and they wanted to learn more about my annual holiday sports ball drive. I came to a meeting and shared how it started . . .
About 20 years ago, I was at a local youth basketball clinic when NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos presented autographed basketballs to a handful of lucky attendees.
Leaving the gym afterward, I happened upon a 10-year-old boy who won one of the prized keepsakes – which he was dribbling on the rough blacktop outdoor court, and shooting baskets with, while perhaps imagining he was Ceballos.
Meanwhile, the real Ceballos’ Sharpie signature was wearing off.
Curious why the boy had not carefully carried the trophy basketball home and put it safely on a bookshelf, I interrupted his playing to ask.
“I’ve never had my own basketball,” he answered matter-of-factly between shots.
That Christmastime, thinking of that boy – and other boys and girls who do not have their own basketball to shoot, soccer ball to kick, football to throw – Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive was born.
Shortly after my visit to the Lions, president Russ White informed me the club had decided to throw in its support. And so, even before officially kicking off this year’s annual campaign with today’s column, already 100 local disadvantaged youth are guaranteed to receive a brand new basketball thanks to the Lions’ generosity.
Once again, I am encouraging you dear readers to join in by dropping off a new sports ball – or balls – at any local Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, youth club or church and they will find a worthy young recipient.
Or drop balls off (weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 21) at Jensen Design & Survey at 1672 Donlon St. (near Target on Telephone Road in Ventura) and I will take it from there. Or have online orders shipped to the same address.
Also, please email me about your gift at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s tally.
Together, we can metaphorically fill a fruit flat to overflowing with sports balls and give a lot of kids “strawberries in wintertime” joy.
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.
Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …
- Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com