The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 6, No. 53 - December 22, 2016 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................6 Community Briefs...............3 Crossword/Sudoku.............6 Legals.................................6,7 Pets........................................5 Real Estate...........................8 Sports....................................3 TerriAnn in Torrance..........4 Weekend Forecast TPOA’s Santa Float Wishes Torrance a Merry Christmas Nightly from November 28 through December 19, Santa and his reindeer made their rounds throughout Torrance, visiting local neighborhoods and spreading holiday cheer. Sponsored by the Torrance Police Officers’ Association, the Santa Float originally started in 1969 and remains an annual community tradition. Photo Provided by Torrance Police Department Community Affairs Division. Friday PM Showers 62˚/53˚ Saturday Mostly Sunny 56˚/46˚ Sunday Sunny 55˚/46˚ Friends of Library Donate to Summer Reading Program, Youth Services By Cristian Vasquez Just before the year ends, the Mayor and Torrance City Council members on Tuesday approved and appropriated one more donation from the Friends of the Torrance Library. The monies support the Summer Reading Program ($25,740) as well as Youth Services activities ($40,434). The Friends’ donation subsidizes a majority of the incentive prizes provided to participants in the Summer Reading Program, including a paperback book for those who reach their reading The Guilt-Free Secret About Gift Cards By Rob McCarthy I was thinking about gift cards for everybody on my list this year anyway because December 25 is four days away and I haven’t started my Christmas shopping. But an email about a UCLA research project sealed the deal. There’s no reason to feel embarrassed about grabbing a handful of gift cards off the cash register rack because you’re short on time, according to Professor Cassie Mogilner Holmes. Those cards have an unexpected and beneficial effect on relationships. Holmes, who’s considered an authority on consumer happiness, reports that a palm-sized gift card provides an experience that is more deeply felt than the traditional gifts that come wrapped with a shiny bow on top. “What we found was that the recipient feels more connected to you as the gift-giver after receiving an experiential gift rather than a material one,” she said in a guilt-free UCLA press release. The announcement was perfectly timed as South Bay residents hit the stores for the final countdown to Christmas. The chances of finding the right size, color or style at South Bay stores get slimmer over the next 72 hours. Locally-owned businesses and boutiques offer a variety not found at larger national retailers, and the mom and pops are closer to home than See Gift Cards, page 4 goals. Through the program, the Library continues to engage kids of all ages in reading activities in order to prevent the “summer slide,” which leads to schoolkids losing reading skills during the mid-year break. “This very popular seven-week program includes programs at all six libraries, incentives for tracking reading progress, and the change to engage with the librarians over books, reading and learning activities,” states the staff report signed by City Librarian Hilary Theyer. “The 2016 program was the Library’s most successful in the last decade, with significant increases in registrations and the percentages of youth who completed the program.” The Library reports that more than 750 kids registered for the program this year, with completions also increasing by 15 percent. In addition to the reading program, the donations made by the Friends will help fund activities such as performers, craft supplies, story and crafts programs, music shows, three youth book discussion groups, teen programs, and supplies for the early literacy storytimes that continue to grow. All of these events take place daily, on different schedules, and encourage the city’s youth to regularly use the library branches. The Friends also fund a public movie license for all six of the branches. “From thematic t-shirts for staff and all teen volunteers for these programs, to decorations and promotional banners, the Friends of the Torrance Library continue to be the major sponsor of this vital library service,” states the staff report. The Friends of the Library have been a nonprofit group since 1967 and are made up of all volunteers. The Friends raise money through book sales--several of which are organized throughout the year--as well as through daily sales inside the facility (near the checkout counter at the Katy Geissert location). Everything sold by the Friends has been donated to the group. Donations to the Friends can be made at the Katy Geissert Library, which has a drop box near the front door, or at any of the other branches. In addition, the Friends will drive out to collect a donation if it is too big for the donor to bring personally. “I just wanted to thank and appreciate the work of the Friends of the Library for all that See City Council, page 7
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