Vol. 53, No.50 Special Section Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 5
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966 Local Events page 2, 3 “Off Beat Happenings”
Entertainment
page 14 - 15
Sports pages 10 - 11
December 16, 2015 Student Corner
page 3
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33rd Annual Christmas Basket and Toy Giveaway
by El Monte PD El Monte
The El Monte Police Department’s Community Relations office will once again make Christmas wishes come true for thousands of local residents at its Annual Christmas Basket and Toy Giveaway. For 33 years the department has provided Christ-
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mas food baskets and toys to needy families in the community. This annual event started in 1982 when a group of El Monte Police Officers put together 30 food baskets, for needy families in the community, out of one of their home garages. Since then the project has grown into a full blown operation that includes hundreds of volunteers, who assemble and distribute 800 food baskets and 7000 toys to needy families in the community. Detective Ray Larriva, the event coordinator, spends countless hours throughout the year seeking donations for this project. The year’s operation is expected to memorable event. On December 22, 2015 police officers, fire fighters, city officials, school personnel and community members will gather bright and early to team up, assemble and
Courtesy Photo
distribute the items to needy families. Families receiving baskets/toys have been selected by officers, school liaisons, and school personnel. Each school in the City received 30 vouchers redeemable for
a basket and toys. If you are interested in donating food or toys for this event, please contact the El Monte Police Community Relations at 626-580-2186. The City of El Monte, located in Southern California,
is committed to improving the quality of life for its citizens and strives to provide its community personalized service, uncompromising commitment, and individualized accountability.
Target & Star Wars Galactic Experience at L.A. LIVE
by Devette Johnson and Melissa Rocha Los Angeles
The long awaited movie is less than four days away before the 7th Episode of “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” to premiere in theaters. The Galactic Experience celebration sponsored by Target took place at Los Angeles’ L.A. Live this past December 12th and 13th for families to enjoy. In dome tents, Target’s crew hosted different venues, which provided a Galactic Star Wars Exhibit of some of the popular known Star Wars characters. You could take pictures with the characters and participate in activities for everyone. Target’s special crew helped everyone create Star Wars origami figures, such as light sabers, X-wings and Tie-fighters. In another special dome children could help the Lego construction technician help create the oversized Tie-fighters on display. Talking to one of the
Courtesy Photo by Melissa Rocha. More photos on page 15.
technician’s, he said that it would take about fifty thousand Legos to complete the large Tie-fighter. Everyone that came into the dome was asked to help construct the Tie-fighter by assembling pieces and depositing them in buckets in front of the oversized Tie-fighter. Before entering one of the dome tents you received a light bracelet that interacted with the mini movie feature. The bracelet lit up in the dark when certain action scenes happened on the screen, giv-
ing attendees a true interactive feel. After the show all the attendees got to keep bracelets from Target. The bracelets have the Star Wars Logo and say “#Share the Force.” There were many Star Wars characters walking around and you could pose with them. Spot the Target mascot was there with Darth Vader, Storm Trooper, R2 D2 and the Imperial Guards. If you happen to miss the Galactic experience, have a chance to take a peek
at some best Star Wars memories by logging into: sharetheforce.target.com. For those who are true fans of Star Wars, this was a nice event to share with the family. However, if you weren’t a true Star Wars fan, this was a free event and there were many other things to do around LA Live. Thank you, Target, Star Wars Galactic celebration and Lego for inviting Mid Valley News to a fun and one of a kind event. We hope there will more free events like this to come.