April 16, 2015 Page 3 Hawthorne Happenings News for the ‘City of Good Neighbors’ We deserve to know what we’re drinking The dangers of soda touch close to home. A high school friend grew up on soft drinks – and he lost a kidney. Diabetes made my mother’s eyesight worse. People need to know these drinks are hurting them. Soda warning labels would help. - Gus Bray, Long Beach www.SodaWarningLabels.org From City Clerk Norb Huber American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life – This Weekend The annual Hawthorne Relay for Life event kicks off at 9 a.m. this Saturday with the Survivor Lap. During the Survivors Lap, all cancer survivors at the event take the first lap around the track, celebrating their victory over cancer while cheered on by the other participants who line the track. Relay For Life events also recognize and celebrate caregivers, who give time, love, and support to their friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers facing cancer. The Luminaria Ceremony takes place after dark, this ceremony remembers people we have lost to cancer, honoring people who have fought cancer in the past, and supporting those whose fight continues. Candles are lit inside of personalized bags and are placed around the Relay track as glowing tributes to those who’ve been affected by cancer. Even if you are not part of a relay team, you are invited to come over to the Hawthorne High School track and walk a few laps any time between 9 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. Financial donations can be made at the event as well. Every donation goes to helping find the cure. Volunteers to be Celebrated The Hawthorne President’s Council will once again host a Volunteer Appreciation Program on Sunday, April 26th at the Memorial Center to honor all those individuals who have volunteered for organizations in Hawthorne. These volunteers keep our city’s non-profits and service organizations moving forward. 5K Run and Haw thorne Health Fair The Hawthorne Education Foundation’s Health Fair and 5K Run allows hundreds of kids from our local schools the opportunity to participate in a health promoting event. The event will be held on Saturday, May 9th this year. The kids and their parents run or walk in the 5K event early in the morning and then the many booths that are set up at the Memorial Park distribute health information to those in attendance. The run is the one and only distance race/walk held in Hawthorne each year. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how slow you are, it’s fun to be part of the activity. The course takes you North on Prairie Avenue to 120th Street, North of the Hawthorne Airport, and then down Crenshaw to El Segundo Blvd. I need to get some training in between now and the race, especially since I will turn 60 the day before the race. Mandatory Water Regulations Another dry winter has just past and now we are set for our dry spring and summer months. A recent newspaper article hinted that California may be in a “mega-drought” period that extends for a decade or longer. We have to get used to conserving water. What have you done to save water? Shorter showers, less grass watering, fewer car washings, or maybe less toilet flushings? I think a great entrepreneurial opportunity for someone would be to market a hand held water meter reader to tell us how much water we have used each day. Please send me some royalty when you make your millions selling such an item. Japan My wife and I were blessed enough to be able to travel to Japan this past week. Wow! It was quite a trip. The language barrier did not stop us from visiting many wonderful sites. With the fast speed trains, we were able to get to see Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima and the countryside in between. Japan is the cleanest country we have ever visited. No trash left anywhere. The cherry tree blossoms were in full bloom. Some of the shrines were over 1,000 years old. It certainly helped to have wi-fi and our phone’s GPS to navigate since most of the maps and signs are only written in Japanese. We visited with a friend who is a Christian missionary in a town outside of Tokyo. Since only 5 % of Japan is Christian, he was so happy to be able to display one of our nativities outside of his home for his entire community to see and enjoy last Christmas. I enjoyed the sushi and a cold one to wash it down with. The trip gave us another perspective on our world and how we are all so closely connected by communication and trade. We left Tokyo Sunday morning and arrived at LAX on Saturday evening traveling back in time •
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