Update 2-26-13

 

Hi,

 

The good news is the Booker Gibson and Vince Tampio scholarships will continue for at least another five years after this run of ten years ends in June.  Almost all the people who've been part of the core group which supports the scholarships said they'd happily continue, and many added personal notes about how pleased they were to be able to honor Booker and Vince.  The several people who said they unfortunately had to ease off after the ten years ended mentioned age, health, and retirement as factors.

    Still, everyone's been terrific:  the big group of people who contributed to the scholarships initially and the smaller group who pledged to support them.  Someone mentioned that it's amazing that we've quietly, consistently kept sending money to South -- presently that total of $9,000 -- and that's simply because so many people have helped.

 

In terms of what the support means financially:  for the past six years, the core group has contributed about $750 each year, and the remaining $250 came from people who often just discovered that the scholarships existed and were happy to add their support.  In most cases, just the mention of the annual fundraising in the newsletter triggers the pledges and new donations to come in.  After this year, the core pledges will be about $600, so I may have to mention the fundraising a bit more often.

    Someone asked if we were incorporated as a tax deductible charity, so we could publicize this more extensively through the South and Valley Stream groups on Facebook.  I said, "no," that we've just kept this informal, and according to the class accountants, that's entirely legal.  I collect the money till we reach $1000, send the two $500 checks to Liz King Giordano at South, and then carefully keep my records.

    If anyone asks, I can send a letter acknowledging a contribution for tax purposes.  Normally, the scholarship supporters remain anonymous except in my business records though, last year, the class of '71 allowed its collective contribution of $140 to be acknowledged.

 

So this begins the official fundraising for this spring.  Following is the letter Maureen Henry, South's principal, sent to remind us.  It's nearly unchanged from last year's:

 

    I am pleased to inform you that our Senior High Scholarship Awards presentation will take place on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM in South Hall.  We would greatly appreciate your participation again this year in presenting The Vince Tampio Theater Award and The Booker Gibson Music Award and by making the formal announcement that evening.

    The students at South continue to shine in their academic performance and service to both school and community.  Your generous scholarship award allows us to recognize these students.  Please confirm your participation by contacting our awards coordinator, Liz King-Giordano.

    Many thanks for your continued support.

 

My background information on the scholarships is also nearly unchanged from last year:

    For those of you who may not know, we support two, annual, $500 scholarships at South, one honoring the still-lively Booker Gibson and the other honoring the late, but possibly also still active Vince Tampio.  This will be the tenth year of our initial ten-year commitment, and we presently have $5 in the Booker Gibson fund and nothing in the Vince Tampio fund -- I'm very good at not hanging on to other people's money. 

    That means we need $495 towards the scholarship in Booker's name and $500 towards the one in Vince's.  As before, please send your checks to:  Rich Eisbrouch, 23030 Dolorosa Street, Woodland Hills, California 91367.  The checks should be made out to me, and please indicate in the bottom left corner of the check which scholarship you'd like to support, or if you'd prefer your donation to be split between the two.

    I'll keep sending the weekly totals and tell people when to stop.  It usually takes four-to-six weeks to raise the money, and for nine years, I've comfortably gotten the checks to Liz King Giordano by mid-May.

      As always, thanks.

 

Finally, three short notes:

 

From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Wow, even I'm shocked that I can add a name to the New Faces of '52cast.  In a show that Temple Gates of Zion's youth group presented in 1965, I was in the segment cast of "Lucky Pierre," the song that introduced Robert Clary to Broadway.

    From Wikipedia:  Robert Clary -- born Robert Max Widerman on March 1, 1926 -- is a French-born American actor, published author, and lecturer, best known for his role as Corporal LeBeau in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes.  He's presently the series' last surviving male original cast member.

 

From Zelda White Nichols:  On February 21, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration announced that Kasel Associated Industries is expanding its voluntary recall for a number of dog treats due to contamination with Salmonella bacteria.  Products were distributed nationwide via Sam's Club, Costco, Petco, Target, and other retail stores.  To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:  dogfoodadvisor . com / dog-food-recall/kasel-dog-treats-recall-expands/  (please remove spaces)

Vaguely related to that, Rocky -- the more adventurous of our two Boxers -- last night snagged a piece of the potentially dog-poisonous chocolate cake one of our friends had left unprotected on the coffee table.  A day later, Rocky's still fine.  But this is a dog that also eats bars of soap.

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com

The South '65 photo site: picasaweb . google . com / SouthHS65

 

 

Rich