July Fourth parade route is set




 

 


The Spirit of Calabasas Foundation, founded last November to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, will continue its relief efforts by putting on an inaugural Calabasas Fourth of July Parade.

The event will benefit the residents of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the parish, a small community of 26,000 people south of New Orleans.

The foundation is looking for parade volunteers, those who want to show their support to a community in need.

The group already has collected and delivered needed school goods to Plaquemines Parish.

“We made a promise to this community that we’re going to be on the long haul with them, that they were not going to be yesterday’s news,” said Red Godfrey, foundation president. “With this in mind, the parish showed us around a senior day care facility, which (has been) used as an animal shelter for those people (with) no homes to take their pets.

“This facility needs to be restored to its original use, it needs cleaning and some structural repairs, and then a good makeover,” Godfrey said.

Spirit of Calabasas will send a construction crew to the parish to renovate the senior center by the end of May. The manpower and materials will be given as donations, Godfrey.

The foundation is still working on a project to help the devastated schools in the parish.

Only three of nine cam

puses in the storm-struck

region are back in operation.

“The Schools Rebuild Project has started and we had our first big check,” Godfrey said. “A young man (A.C. Stelle Middle School eighth-grader Max Gaspin) presented us with a check for $1,500. He had been given this money for his bar mitzvah and decided to donate it to (the Spirit of Calabasas). It was specifically to pay for items off the school’s donation drive (list) from Plaquemines Parish . . . (Max) was greatly affected by the devastation in Louisiana when he watched the news each morning, and decided that donating part of his upcoming bar mitzvah gifts was one way to help.”

Godfrey said that with the foundation’s help the damaged schools in the parish are scheduled to open Aug. 11. A foundation board member is gathering local high school students to assist in the effort.

Lindero Canyon Middle School parents paid for half a dozen desks and chairs.

“This support shows that the Spirit of Calabasas has touched the hearts of members from communities all over the valley,” Godfrey said. “The need to help

a community

so far away is at

the forefront of

people’s minds,

irrespective of the

zip code they live

in.”

But more help

is needed, including moral

support, Godfrey said. In partnership with the city of Calabasas, Spirit of Calabasas is asking people to come cheer their guests of honor from the Louisiana parish.

“Local cities, businesses, schools, homeowners associations, organizations, organized groups, marching bands and individuals will be taking part in a free parade with everything from classic cars to home-made floats, bikes, wagons, twolegged and four-legged friends, and much more,” Godfrey said.

The parade is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., starting at the intersection of Park Granada and Parkway Calabasas and traveling north on Parkway Calabasas to Calabasas Road. The procession will continue down Calabasas Road and end at Park Centre, where follow-up events have been scheduled.

The city will host its annual fireworks display that night at Calabasas High School.

Representatives from Plaquemines Parish, including parish President Benny Rouselle, will lead the parade. KNBC sports anchor Fred Roggin, a Calabasas resident, will be the grand marshal for the day, and a celebrity group will give awards to the best floats.

The foundation asks those interested in participating to register their vehicle, animals or groups. There is no cost to participate and no registration is needed for individuals who only wish to walk in the parade.

For more information about the Fourth of July parade or the Spirit of Calabasas Foundation, visit www.spiritofcalabasas.org.

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