SERVICE CLUBS:Bethel 97 gets crafty

It's the holiday season again and it's time to start shopping for those gifts. Make today's Craft Fair, sponsored by Bethel Number 97 International Order of Job's Daughters, your one-stop shop for one-of-a-kind gifts. The event is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Burbank Masonic Center, 406 Irvine Drive.

The Craft Fair features numerous craft vendors from around Burbank and surrounding communities who will wow you with their original creations. Chairwoman Rita Yates said that this special event also offers home-baked goods and gift baskets for sale. Bethel Number 97 Honored Queen Darcy Yates and many of the Daughters will be on hand to assist visitors and venders.

International Order of Job's Daughters is a sorority of girls between 10 and 20 years of age. Proceeds from the table rentals will go to support Bethel Number 97.

Bethel Number 97 Guardian Trish Vosper invites everyone to come to the Craft Fair and start your holiday shopping early.

For more information, call Norm Furman at (818) 848-3750.

CLUBS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others — a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors.

Held on the fourth Saturday of every October, the event fosters thousands of community projects across the nation. One of those projects was right here in Burbank.

When Kiwanis President Greg Glaser suggested the Kiwanis participate in the event this year, Bruce Lilly, Kiwanis Key Club chairman, took the reins and helped formulate a "K-Family" project. This is a project where adult Kiwanians work together with high-school Key Clubs.

Together the clubs collected more than 1,200 pounds of food for the Burbank Temporary Aid Center (BTAC) and the Burbank Salvation Army. That's a lot of peanut butter, canned tuna and canned pasta. The three clubs gathered food goods for the entire month of October.

Then, on Oct. 21, members collected hundreds of pounds of food from the generous patrons of two Ralphs markets at San Fernando and Delaware roads and Buena Vista Street and Victory Boulevard.

"I and the whole Kiwanis Club of Burbank, along with the Key Clubs at Burbank and Providence high schools, wish to again thank Ralphs Markets and their customers," Lilly said.

And where does one store 1,200 pounds of food?

"We hauled [the food] to my garage in my pickup truck and my wife Leslie's mini-van," he said. "No cars were allowed for two weeks."