Scouts Troop 210 wrapping gifts for holidays...

Scouts Troop 210 wrapping gifts for holidays

Troop 210 of the Verdugo Hills Council, Boy Scouts of America, is

wrapping gifts for the community in exchange for donations.

Gift wrapping is being done in front of Sportmart in the Empire

Center. Packages from any store will be wrapped by volunteer Scouts

from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day until Christmas Eve.

Proceeds from this fund-raiser help the boys attend summer camp.

Part of the Scouts motto encourages them to pay their own way.

Donations of any amount will be accepted and there is no limit.

Christmas and Hanukkah wrapping paper are available.

Bill O’Leary is scoutmaster of Troop 210.

Family Service Agency benefits from home tour

A Holiday Home Tour benefiting the Family Service Agency of

Burbank left many guests whistling “White Christmas” on their way

home.

The former Toluca Lake estate of Bing Crosby, now owned by Larry

and Kerry Stickney, was the hit of the tour Dec. 13. Crosby built the

Colonial-style abode in 1934 and he and his wife and four sons lived

there until December 1943 when a Christmas-tree fire destroyed much

of the house. The unavailability of building materials during the war

kept Crosby from rebuilding it and the family moved to Holmby Hills.

Crosby also once owned the second house on the tour, just across

the street. Crosby had it built for his mother in 1932. Mark and

Peggy Celli own it now.

The Victorian-style cottage of former Mayor David Laurell and his

wife, Max Andrews, also charmed visitors. It was built in 1999,

after a fire destroyed the original home a few days before Christmas

in 1998.

Gary and Janitta Keck’s contemporary home built in 1977 was the

fourth home on the tour. Highlights of this home were the remodeled

first-floor living and dining rooms and renovated kitchen with custom

dark cherry cabinets and exquisite granite countertops.

Tour proceeds will go to three youth programs, said Laurie Bleick,

executive director of Family Service Agency.

The Community Day School Project provides on-site counseling to

youths at one school site and is done in collaboration with the

Burbank Unified School District. The CRAFT (Creating Resolutions

Among Families Together) program provides group counseling to

elementary-age youth and their parents, which is a collaborative

project with the school district. The third program is CARE

(Community Awareness and Response through Education), which provides

youth and group counseling for children affected by domestic

violence.

The agency’s board of directors’ members Janet Killian and Mary

Alice O’Connor organized the home tour.

Cardiac care benefits from gala

More than 550 people celebrated the third annual International

Festival of Trees gala, raising $200,000 to support heart patients.

The benefit was at the Universal Sheraton Hotel.

Philanthropist Michael Walsh, set dresser for the WB network’s

“7th Heaven,” helped create a winter wonderland where guests placed

their bids on professionally decorated trees, wreaths and other

holiday items. There was also an extensive silent auction featuring

exotic trips, luxurious spa days and jewelry.

Proceeds benefit cardiac services for Providence St. Joseph

Medical Center in Burbank and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in

Mission Hills.

This year, the foundations of the nonprofit hospitals presented

the Heroes for Hope award to Walsh for his support of their programs.

At the gala, television celebrities, noted physicians and grateful

patients of the hospitals danced to the lively music of Stephen

Collins and the 7th Heaven Band.

For more information on cardiac services, or the supporting

foundations, call 847-4673.