Breakfast

Laura Sturza MEDIA CITY CENTER -- Santa Claus will join a room full of happy children for a special Saturday breakfast. The event features music from a toy soldier band, storytelling, a warm breakfast and letter writing to Santa with a mailbox to the North Pole. It is suggested that tickets be purchased in advance, as the breakfast often sells out. However, any tickets still available that morning can be purchased at the Media City Center customer service desk.

Molly Shore Teachers are getting more than shiny, red apples this morning. Educators attending the annual Teacher Appreciation breakfast hosted by Office Depot in Burbank will leave with tote bags full of supplies to use in their classrooms this fall. About 150 Burbank teachers turned out for last year's breakfast, but store manager Ben Min said he is expecting an even bigger turnout this morning because Office Depot has created the Star Teacher Program.

Program changes recommended Lori Ordway-Peck, assistant superintendent of business services for the Burbank Unified School District, will present four options to amend the food services program. Her suggestion proposes to either increase food prices by 25 cents, reduce labor in the program, and eliminate breakfast at secondary schools. The second option would also decrease labor and eliminate breakfast, but increase food prices by 50 cents. Two final options would reduce labor, remove breakfast from all four secondary schools and increase food prices by either 25 or 50 cents.

Karen S. Kim Chamber hosts new member breakfast BURBANK -- The Burbank Chamber of Commerce is inviting all of its new members, those who joined in 2001, to a breakfast to celebrate their membership. The breakfast begins at 9 a.m. on Dec. 6 and will give new members a chance to meet chamber officials, committee heads and staff members, review the chamber's service in 2001 and discuss how to best use a chamber membership. Participants must RSVP to the chamber by Nov. 30 by calling 846-3111.

RSVP volunteers honored at breakfast HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- Six hundred members of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Burbank will be honored this morning for their service. The breakfast at the Castaway will include recognition of those who have volunteered from five to 25 years of service. Scheduled to present awards are Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Burbank). For entertainment, the Verdugo Hills Showtime Chorus will perform patriotic songs.

The public is invited to attend the second annual State of the Schools breakfast recognizing accomplishments in the Burbank Unified School District. The breakfast will be at 7:15 a.m. Thursday at the Castaway, 1250 Harvard Road. Seats are $20 each. Supt. Gregory Bowman will give the keynote address. The event will recognize Burbank Community Foundation Fellows, a mentoring program that paired three district high school students with area business leaders and Teacher of the Year nominees from the district's 11 elementary schools.

AS IF YOU ASKED We've all heard the truism "Brunch is the most important meal of the day." Who doesn't know of the slogan for a cereal that claims to be, "The brunch of champions?" Surely "the midmorning bird gets the worm" couldn't have become a cliche unless there is some truth to it, right? I'm sure most of you recognized something was a bit off with every one of those sayings, all of which actually refer to breakfast and early morning hours.

Austin Cook would have turned 12 on Sunday. But on Saturday morning, instead of starting his birthday weekend with wishes and gifts, his family and friends will hold a fundraiser in memory of his short life. Austin, a sixth-grader at John Muir Middle School, died of a heart attack Nov. 29 after collapsing during a midmorning run in his physical education class. “I think that, obviously, it was a very traumatic experience for students and the staff,” Principal Dan Hacking said.

AS IF YOU ASKED A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about local school officials having discovered that, although federal law requires school districts to make a breakfast available to students who might not otherwise get one, the BUSD can save a few dollars by serving that breakfast hours after school starts. The breakfast at some school sites, paid for by students or a federal program that's nearly 40 years old, has been shifted from before school hours to two "seatings" during the school day. That meal service, during what is a recess and snack period, ends shortly before lunch is served.

Hundreds of people gathered early Thursday for the 37th annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in the Rancho neighborhood under the themes of encouraging youth, coming together to better the community and having faith in one's abilities to help others. Mayor Dave Golonski said everyone faces challenges, and that while Burbank isn't perfect, residents pull together to make things happen. City officials, school leaders and faith-based groups gathered to hear guest speaker Jay Schroeder - a former NFL quarterback who played for the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders and others - touch on the theme of having faith and using your God-given abilities to help others.

La Providencia Guild of Children's Hospital Los Angeles conducted its annual meeting and breakfast at Burbank's Castaway banquet center on March 10. Chairwoman Sue Ann Gordon and her committee decorated the room with Audrey Hepburn's movie, “Breakfast at Tiffany's.” Guild members also dressed to the theme and were greeted by committee members Pat Maskell, Kris Veatch, and Chris Welker. Following officers' annual reports, Judy Gragg, outgoing president, passed the gavel to new president, Nancy Johnson.

The Kiwanis Club of Burbank and the Burbank Kiwanis For Fun will be hosting their annual joint pancake breakfast on Oct. 29. As before, it will be held in the parking lot of Tyerman's Automotive, 1420 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, from 8 to 11 a.m. This is a fundraiser for both clubs, and it will help some programs of Burbank schools. For tickets for the Kiwanis Club of Burbank, contact Gary Peterson at (818) 848-3614 or petersongb@sbcglobal.net. For Burbank Kiwanis For Fun, contact Donna Wade at (818)

In the back corner of the John Burroughs High School courtyard, about as far as you can get from the stage and still keep an ear on the action, Connie Trimble packed up the last of her cooking utensils. On that stage all Saturday morning, the varied and dynamic singing groups of the school's Vocal Music Assn. took the community through a musical odyssey, from warm-ups all the way through a complex harmonized classical piece. Through it all, Trimble kept the crowd well-fed with a signature pancake recipe from her family's restaurant, Barron's.

Mike Campbell and his son, Hayden, 8, combine exercise with fun on their trips to school several mornings a week. Some days they ride their bikes. Other times, they take their skateboards or scooters. And then there are the days the third-grader jumps onto his PlasmaCar Ride-On vehicle and zips toward Miller Elementary School. "It's actually really fun," Hayden said about spending time with his dad. This time of the morning, "it's a joy ride," Mike Campbell said. "He learns the rules of the road, and I tell him every driver is a crazy driver.

Presiding over the elegant new eatery, The Cafe Victory, is none other than St. Patrick himself. Owner Rogel Aragon brought the 100-year-old stained-glass replica of the saintly man with him from his old restaurant, the popular Patrick’s Cafe, to his new, scaled-down place on Victory near Sonora in Glendale. I think it’s a lucky talisman because The Cafe Victory is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. The food and decor at the new cafe have absolutely nothing to do with Ireland.

Fire stations in Burbank and Glendale were ablaze in activity Saturday as hundreds of residents descended on local stations to celebrate National Fire Service Day. Intended to raise community awareness about fire prevention and preparedness, the day is as much about education as it is about entertainment. “Everybody’s showing all their gear,” Burbank paramedic Kyle Springer said, adding that, before the fun and games, firefighters were there “to provide for life safety and protect the community.