Service Clubs

At 75, Glendale One Toastmasters is still going strong, helping Glendale people build confidence, public speaking and leadership skills. The club started in Glendale in 1933 as one of the original eight Toastmasters Clubs. Today there are more than 11,500 clubs in the United States and in several foreign countries. To celebrate those 75 years, the club held an anniversary celebration on March 25 at Glendale City Hall. Awards were given to past and present members for their service to the club for helping members improve their speaking and leadership skills.

Where is Lake Glendale? Everybody always asks me that question. The Glendale Kiwanis Club will transform Verdugo Park into a very large lake full of rubber duckies on Oct. 20. Each of the rubber duckies will have a number painted on it, and the ducks will be ready to go round and round and down the slides to see who is the fastest ducky. Remember your rubber ducky from early bathtub days? These are the very same rubber duckies, and now they are all ready to race. You can adopt a duck or a whole flock of ducks that might win you a prize from the Kiwanis Club.

We feel the summer heat here daily in Glendale. We heard from Rep. Adam Schiff at the Glendale Rotary Club luncheon last week that it is over 100 degrees almost every day in Washington, D.C., in the summer. I should stop complaining. The Rotary Club had invited Schiff to a special luncheon to publicly thank him for his extra efforts for our community. One of those efforts was that he had introduced and taken the lead to get more than 200 other congressmen to join him as co-sponsors of his bill to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

What would the Cruise Night be without great food and fun? The Jewel City Kiwanis Club is again rolling out its barbecue trailer to the corner of Brand Boulevard and Lexington Drive tonight to cook for the event. They will be serving up hamburgers, nachos and hot dogs, plus drinks. Members of the Crescenta Valley High School baseball team and their cheerleaders will be helping the Kiwanians serve the food. It should be fun. All the money raised from the barbecue and drink sales will be donated by the Kiwanis Club to local organizations.

The annual Fourth of July Fireworks Show in La Crescenta always turns out a big crowd to have fun and watch a truly spectacular show. The show gets strong financial support from the area service clubs. Both the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs each donated a $1,000 to help the show go on. The clubs also purchased booths to provide entertainment and information on the show grounds at La Crescenta Elementary School, 4343 La Crescenta Ave., La Crescenta. Booths will open before the fireworks show at 5 p.m. for food, shopping and fun. FREE FACE PAINTING BEFORE THE BIG SHOW The Crescenta Valley Rotary Club will have a professional face painter in its booth to have the kids really decorated for the Fourth of July.