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 Venice Sparkles Basketball Team: Katie Lin, Sarah Chang, Megan Yoon, Kelli Hsu, Keilani Ikehara, Marissa Vensel, Sydney Hongo, and Kira Kishi Venice Sparkles Shine in Service to the Hungry For years, the sixth-grade girls of the Venice Sparkles basketball team have exchanged Christmas gifts with each other at an annual team party � raking in t-shirts, games, gift certificates and other goodies for themselves. But amid rising levels of hunger and economic gloom, the girls made a more selfless choice this year: They decided to forgo their annual gift exchange and instead used $220 of their own money to go shopping as a team to buy food for the hungry. This month, they donated 16 bags of groceries to the Japanese American Optimist Club�s food drive on behalf of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Kosumosu, a transitional housing facility for victims of domestic violence operated by the Little Tokyo Service Center. �I felt good, knowing it would help other people,� said Sydney Hongo, a sixth-grader at El Segundo Middle School who has played with the Sparkles since kindergarten. Leland Lau, commissioner of the JAO Invitational Girls� Basketball League, praised the team as an example of the kind of selfless service the club aims to promote in its activities. The club, founded in 1954, is one of 3,200 Optimist Clubs throughout the world involving 96,000 men and women whose service projects reach an estimated 6 million youth each year. �It�s unbelievable what they did � this is definitely sacrificing themselves,� Lau said. �We�re looking for kids to get involved in helping others, to make life special for other people.� The club launched its food drive in December amid reports from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank that requests for help had grown by 40%, many from middle-class families that never before had needed aid. So far, the club has received enough donations to fill 14 boxes with an estimated 1,000 pounds of food. More than $1,000 in cash donations has also been received. The Venice contribution was spearheaded by Willie Hsu and his daughter Kelli, a sixth-grader at Palms Middle School. Hsu said he had read about the growing needs at community food banks and proposed to his team that they help out. He wanted the girls to use their own money as a gesture of selflessness, and also learn to stretch their dollars with smart shopping. After one of their games, the girls pooled their money and went shopping at Food 4 Less. �We decided as a team that the girls had plenty of stuff and there were a lot of people who didn�t have things,� Hsu said. �The girls actually dug into their own wallets.� Hsu�s daughter, Kelli, said she contributed $15 of her Christmas money. As the girls went up and down the aisles scouring the shelves for bargains, Kelli chose the macaroni and cheese. Others piled rice, hot chocolate, peanut butter, jelly, canned sausages, tuna, cereal, dressing and other goods into the shopping cart. Marissa Vensel, a sixth-grader at Culver City Middle School, was the group�s financial controller, keeping track of how much money was spent and how much was left as each item was placed in the basket. She came within 50 cents of the total, Hsu said. Kelli admitted that she wasn�t crazy about the idea at first - but ultimately learned the joy of giving. �I thought it was a good idea but I didn�t want to use my money at first,� Kelli said. �But I�m glad I did. I was able to help people.� The Venice team members are: Sarah Chang, Sydney Hongo, Kelli Hsu, Keilani Ikehara, Kira Kishi, Katie Lin, Marissa Vensel and Megan Yoon. The food drive will continue through Saturday, Feb. 21, when families can deliver donations between 7 and 10 p.m. at the JAO 40th Anniversary Bingo Night scholarship fundraiser at Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, 815 E. 1st St. in Los Angeles. Donations can also be dropped off at the office of Leland G. Lau CPA, 3056 W. Main Street in Alhambra. Other donation pickups can be arranged by calling JAO at 213-265-6813 or emailing [email protected] |
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