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The 2008 holiday season was a wonderful time of giving for AFE! With a total of 6 Holiday events in the month of December, providing over 2,500 new toys, t-shirts and hot meals to children and their families throughout San Diego County. Participants were invited through several organizations such as the San Ysidro school district, San Diego City Schools, Special Olympics & Neighborhood House Association's Early Head Start and New Life Head Start programs.
Here are a couple of brief summaries of our Holiday events:
- Alana Etheridge’s “Holiday for Our Youth” was hosted by Alana Etheridge. The party took place on December 11th at the Lemon Grove Masonic Temple. This event was co-sponsored by the G.A. Thompson Lodge #79, whose members prepared a delicious meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, collard greens and all the “fixins” under the guidance of master chef Frank Palmer. In addition to food and new toys, the 350 children and their families who were fed a warm healthy meal & had their spirits touched w/ came were entertained by “Voices of Angels," a youth choir led by Rhea Wilson.
- San Diego Chargers Steve Gregory hosted 100 low-income & at-risk children from the San Ysidro school district & Special Olympics for food, t-shirts, pictures & autographs; bowling was hosted by Claremont Mesa Bowl December 29th. Food was provided by Jeff Drucker, President of Drucker Subway Inc. & drinks were provided by Vitamin Water. Steve was joined by fellow teammates Jeromey Clary, Antonio Cason for a fun filled day of bowling w/ the stars
- San Diego Chargers Kassim Osgood & Jacques Cesaire hosted 100 low-income & at-risk homeless children from the Special Olympics & San Ysidro school district for food, t-shirts, pictures & autographs; bowling was hosted by Claremont Mesa Bowl December 26th. Food was provided by Jeff Drucker, President of Drucker Subway & drinks were provided by Vitamin Water. Kassim & Jacques were joined by fellow teammates Shawn Merriman for a fun filled day of bowling w/ the stars...
- C S Keys Holiday for Youth took place at the Tilted Kilt & hosted over 200 military families from San Diego County..
All of AFE’s programs are made possible by the continued generous support from our gracious sponsors such as Walt & Elizabeth Smoyer, The Eisenberg Group, A.C., Scott Leggett, Executive Director for Surgery One Centers and Spine & Sport Physical Therapy offices, Tom Groff, Prudential Real Estate & Rudy & Hank Mercado from Kongo Gear. We thank this year’s Holiday event sponsors: Bill & Debbie Pollakov’s “Bikes for Kids” organization (for all the wonderful Bikes), Jeff Drucker, President of Drucker Subway Inc. & Vitamin Water. A blessed thank you for our Santa's, who each year, & have for the past 10 years provided AFE with the great gifts we provide for so many lives we touch during the Holiday seasons. Tom Groff, one of AFE's “angels,” who hosts annual Holiday parties with the price of admission is an unwrapped gift/new toy that Tom donates to AFE for our many Holiday events throughout the year… Thanks Scott for your continued support of AFE’s Holiday event through your donations of financial support & toy drives over the month of December.
The other key ingredient to the success of this year's events was the participation of our volunteers. Thank you to all AFE's volunteers who gave of their time during this holiday season to bring joy to kids…
Of course, the greatest reward of these programs is the smiles we bring to so many children's faces during a time of year that can be very difficult for families with economic struggles. We count among our blessings the opportunity to give and to touch young lives during the holiday season. Plans are already underway for our 2009 holiday celebrations; please contact us if you are interested in making a donation, hosting a toy drive and/or volunteering.
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