By George Fallar 
December 5, 2012
Since it looks like the NHL lockout talks are proceeding and the Coyotes sale is moving forward with some very positive momentum, I wanted to take the chance to talk about other things. I apologize for taking a page out of the book of local and Canadian media with the extremely misleading, okay completely inaccurate headline. Although, if you would like to make that headline my official prediction, I’m good with that because it’s that close.
I just wanted to get you here under any circumstances.
This is the season for all of us to count our blessings and realize how lucky we have been in life. I know I’m lucky to have rewarding work, good friends, outside interests that are challenging and rewarding and a great family. Most of us reading this have a comfortable place to live and plenty of food to eat. A lot of us have enough disposable income to buy NHL hockey tickets, drive decent cars and make sure our kids have braces if they need them.
Kids And Christmas
Lots of you know John Glenn, for those that don’t he is one of the Coyotes family that has put in the extra effort over the past six months to make sure we have NHL hockey in our town for the foreseeable future. John, like George Costanza on certain days, is an architect and a bad speller. John also plays hockey as a d-man with the most penalty minutes in his league. John, against all odds and despite his fear of commitment, has somehow managed to snag the beautiful Cara as his companion. This is a professional couple that cleans up well. I mean, really, don’t you just want to pinch their cheeks?
Cara and John have started a charity effort this holiday season. Cara happens to be an investigator with Child Protective Services (CPS). Every Christmas eve/ day it’s unfortunately inevitable that children are going to be removed by CPS from their parents through no fault of the child’s own.
Under normal circumstances this traumatic upheaval in a young child’s life can prove challenging, never mind a child’s life being upended on Christmas eve/ day. Typically children that have to be removed are either placed in available foster care or wait in a cold unwelcoming CPS office awaiting placement at an available facility. In either situation this child is left confused and scared.
At the risk of a child going without a holiday present John and Cara are trying to collect new/ gently used toys that they will wrap up and give to these kids as Christmas gifts on the 25th. In such a traumatic condition, it’s a means of showing these children that people DO care and try to bring some normalcy given the circumstances.
They would appreciate any kind of toy donation(s) that you can find as we try to make their charity a success. They don’t want cash. If you do live remotely from Phoenix we would be much appreciative of any sort of gift cards/ certificates if that’s easier than physical toys. This is a significant undertaking but they’re ready for the challenge.
If you can help John and Cara, please email them at Johnglennphx@gmail.com and use the code word “Nebulous”. Nah, you don’t have to do that, just get in touch with them if you can help, please.
At Risk Kids
Most of you know Bea, as well. She has been working with the Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development for some time now. Tumbleweed, essentially, provides safe haven for kids and young adults to shelter themselves and develop themselves into productive members of society. It’s a great organization, their target demographic is people ages 11 to 25 in Maricopa County that are homeless, runaway, conduct disordered, abused, abandoned, troubled, etc. You get the idea, they are a safe place for at-risk kids to be safe instead of being targets. Their web address is http://www.tumbleweed.org/ if you would like to see what they’re about. They can always use more help, of course.
This year we’re taking a bit of a family sabbatical from exchanging presents. Bea is, instead, trying to organize fulfilling the gift lists for some of these kids. There are too many for us to handle ourselves, so we’re reaching out for help. As an indication of the fragility of the life condition of these kids, we received a list of ten kids to work with on November 25. We were going to provide personalized lists for each of the kids, all of them were spoken for. Checking with Tumbleweed today half of the kids are already gone.
So we’re backing up a bit and looking for more generic gifts that EVERYBODY likes. Soccer balls, basketballs, gift cards, personal hygiene products, socks, board games, use your imagination. Electronics such as iPods and thus iTunes gift cards, not so much because they seem to disappear.
Horsemanship Character Program
Cave Creek is horse country. Not far from this very desk is the “barn” of a well known NHL hockey Captain, some would say the best captain in the league. Also not far from here is the base of a horsemanship program for the kids that attend the Horseshoe Trails Elementary School. We are big fans of the people involved in this program to build character in our kids while they’re not looking. They don’t even know what’s hitting them, but they will come out the other side better people.
In fact, the TRRFCC (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship) Horsemanship people stepped up and took care of the Christmas list for all of the other Tumbleweed kids we grabbed. As you’d expect, they can use help with their program as well.
Their biggest need is for people to scrape and repaint their outdoor classroom. Obviously that would mean local people only, but we could knock it out in a day with a few people. The other things they need are grooming tools, they don’t have to be new, even. Volunteers are welcome, cash is welcome, any horse related assistance would be warmly received.
Please contact them through their web site http://trrfcchorsemanship.org/ if you can help at all.
Thank you for your consideration and Happy Holidays!