The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 18 - May 6, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................10
Classifieds............................4
City Council..........................3
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................2
Legals............................. 6,8,9
Obituaries.............................2
Pets......................................11
Real Estate.......................5-7
Sports.............................. 3,10
Weekend
Forecast
AYSO Players are Thrilled to
Be Back on the Field Competing
El Segundo U16/U19 boys team defeat Westchester 5 to 1 on May 1. From left: Coach Luis Toledo, Dylan Kelly, Ryan Butcher, Aidan Hernandez, Andre Hernandez, Felix Fuchs, Mason Christian, Chase
Krilko, Alejandro Martinez, Ian Toledo, Kai Johnson, Landon Cornejo, Ryan Alvarez, Chasen Lafolette, H. Daniel Gomez, Jonathan Sautter, Evan Chen and assistant Coach Mark Christian. Teammate
Zakariya Hasan is not pictured. Photo courtesy Cora Lee.
Linda Luna Spends Life Helping
Children with Love and Patience
By Kiersten Vannest
“In 2007, my son and my beautiful daughterin
law called me and said I was going to
be a grandma.” Linda Luna, a Park Vista
senior community resident in El Segundo,
moved to sunny California to be closer to
her growing family.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Luna’s parents
El Segundo Public Library Welcomes
Back Its In-Person Patrons
By Duane Plank
I’ve got good news for all of you readers
who would rather venture into a brick-andmortar
building to peruse your favorite
books, magazines, newspapers, and DVDs
in person instead of staring at a little screen
on your phone or your tablet or laptop.
The El Segundo public library (ESPL),
located over there on Mariposa Ave., a
tad bit west of Main St., has invited back
its customers to burst through their glass
welcoming doors, and traipse over the
well-worn carpet, wander through the
bookracks, grab a magazine or newspaper,
and check-out DVD offerings.
The official “soft opening” of the El
Segundo public library occurred on April
12, when reservations were required to step
inside the building, and safety and social
distancing protocols were enforced. But
as of May 3, reservations were no longer
required.
An email sent by the ESPL noted that
“Beginning Monday, May 3, 2021, the
El Segundo Public will no longer require
reservations and will open its doors to
walk-in visitors during the hours of 10
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Use of the library will remain limited, with
doors closing once the building’s maximum
capacity has been reached. A temperature
check will be required upon entrance, and
visitors must always wear a face mask
while in the library. Visitors are welcome to
browse the collections, check out material,
moved out to California for a better life.
She then grew up in San Jose, working as a
clerk for Pacific Bell. But the thing that most
stands out about Luna’s life is her extensive
work helping children.
“I love kids,” she says, going on to explain
that she spent her parenting years also
fostering children. As a foster child herself
from age thirteen to eighteen, Linda used her
experience to relate to kids going through
the system. When her two sons were ages
four and seven, she started a foster home and
took kids from Juvenile Hall and the Girls’
Ranch, a place for girls in difficult situations.
“The girls are pretty amazing, and once
they knew that they were going to be safe
and not be judged for whatever they did,
but be encouraged about going forward and
becoming the best they could be, you could
see a change in their attitudes and their
thinking,” she explains.
The biggest challenge with a foster child,
she says, is getting them to know that they
can trust you. Luna explains the importance
of establishing that she would not lie to or
deceive a child in her care. She made sure
it was clear that she wasn’t going to kick
them out if they did something wrong, be
it not doing what she asked, or sneaking
out and sneaking back in. She showed love,
patience, structure, and kindness to every
child in her care.
So how did Luna come up with her approach
to these difficult situations? “I tried
to follow what my foster mother did,” she
says, explaining that her own foster home was
as normal as could be, and her foster parent
was very motherly and loving. Not being able
to have children of her own, Luna’s foster
mother took in about ten girls and helped
empower them to take ownership of their
own lives and responsibilities, giving them
activities to do and taking them on vacation.
“I would say I learned a lot from that and
tried to implement it in my own home.”
Often, kids who enter the foster system are
dealing with some tough life circumstances.
Luna recalls one girl who came into her
care with 98 cavities and had trouble sleeping
for fear of not being secure. For about
three weeks in a row, she and her husband
See Linda Luna, page 10 Linda Luna loves living in El Segundo.
See Public Library, page 11
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