Page 11 - Sanger Herald 1-25-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 3B • THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018
Sanger launches a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish kids Melody and Eric
Sanger
Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Melody is a 3-year-old who got a kidney transplant on Christmas eve.
Eric is 15, has cancer and has undergone numerous chemotherapy treatments.
Both want to go to Disneyland.
And the students at Sanger High and John Wash and Del Rey elementary schools want to help them get there through Make- A-Wish Central California. The Apaches launched their fundraising campaign Jan. 19 in the Coach Dean Nicholson Gym with a packed rally that included games, folklorico dancing and some — at times — spectacular hijinks. (This
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Talie Cloud, from left, Grace Ochs and Ronnie Scott share a laugh prior to the rally in Sanger High's Coach Dean Nicholson Gym that lauched the fundraiser.
is a reference to a fall witnessed by the entire assembly and a formidable recovery. Nobody was hurt.)
Talie Cloud, Grace Ochs and Alexa Martinez make up the core of the Make-A- Wish Sanger High team.
“We’ve been planning this since summer,” Martinez said.
But Cloud said the work to launch the fundraiser began in earnest two to three weeks ago. “It’s like a surge (in activity),” she said.
The Sanger High team will continue to fundraise until March or April, Ochs said.
“In the past, we’ve been able to raise upwards of $5,000 (during previous
Make-A-Wish campaigns),” Cloud said. “So we’re hoping to surpass that.”
Sanger’s contribution to the Make-A-Wish cause is huge for the organization, said Cortney Snapp, its community director. “We’re so excited,” she said after the rally had concluded. “This is a big deal.”
And to Cloud, Ochs and Martinez Snapp said, “You guys — for a school(s) to grant two wishes is huge.”
Make-A-Wish Central California’s region extends from Bakersfield to Merced. Snapp said the organization is seeking to make 220 wishes come true. “We call it the a wish pipeline or wishes in
See Wish, Page 4B
Flags raised over The Vineyards
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Harry Paul remembered playing the same location back in the 1940s.
But the site had changed. Dramatically.
“We played when there was nothing here,” he said. “Just dirt.”
Paul performed with the Armenian-American Citizen League Band back then. On Jan. 17, Paul and members of the Sounds of Freedom band brought their instruments and provided the soundtrack to the flag raising at the California Armenian Home’s $45 million expansion, dubbed The Vineyards. The dirt was gone. In its place was a meticulously designed grounds around a facility that likely has exceeded the dreams of the original founders.
The ceremony marked the first of a series of events celebrating the completion of the massive project on the former deserted and dusty 41 acres where Paul played to audiences more than 60 years ago. The new facilities include independent living and assisted living apartments, a dozen villas that look much like any subdivision in the region and a new 36-unit memory care facility, which has its own kitchen, gathering area and nursing station.
The jewel of the project is the three- story 134,000-square-foot structure that houses apartments, 58 independent and 50 assisted, with a European flair — high ceilings, fine finishes, lots of light and a view. Some
Cast Your Cares on Christ
I thoroughly enjoy fishing of all types. I enjoy going to a little stream and catching and releasing little Brook Trout. Taking my boat up to Pine Flat and catching rainbow trout, bass and crappie. Going out in the ocean and catching all types of ocean fish like: yellowtail, halibut, vermillion and shark.
In between Christmas and New Year’s, my brother and I go fishing together. This year, we fished at
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Melvin Spenhoff, a new resident of The Vineyards' villas, helped raise the flag with Sanger High's NJROTC students. The flags also included the Armenian and state.
which include the existing facilities that provide care for more than 140 residents and include rehabilitation and round-the-clock nursing services.
Mimi Koligian was honored for her family’s role in donating the monument. A plaque read, “In memory of Anna and Kachadoor Koligian Nazen and Zadig Zadigian who came to pursue the American dream.”
Her son Keith Koligian spoke of his family’s patriotism. “They were proud of their Armenian heritage,” he said. “But they were Americans first. They touched us and made us the people we are today.”
After his public comments, Keith said his relatives came to this country with nothing. “(But) they worked hard,” he said. “I think they would be very proud (of this day).”
Deran Koligian, a former Fresno County supervisor and Keith’s dad, died at 74 in 2001. Keith said written in his father’s Bible was a phrase that reflected his values — “Don’t judge a man by his riches or his power. Judge him by what
it takes to discourage him.” “It means you don’t give up,” Keith Koligian said. “Work ethic was a big thing
in his family.”
Koligian farms the same
land his family began cultivating in 1909, in the Kearney Park area. The home he was born into was built in the 1800s.
Debbie Poochigian, Keith’s sister and also a former Fresno County supervisor, was pleased with how the monument turned out. “Our grandparents and parents are so proud of this country,” she said. “And this is a way to honor our past. This is for (them). It turned out just beautifully.”
After the event concluded, four generations of the Koligian family posed for pictures around the base of the flagpoles. The youngest of the clan appeared to be Ani Koligian, who was 6 months and quite a trooper on that cool misty morning.
As the flags were raised —oneatatime—the band played accompanying music for each one. For the state flag it was “I Love You California” by way of a haunting trumpet solo by
Peter tells us why: God cares for you. You are His own “care.” He will bear you up for his own purposes.
I like the Philips’ version of this verse that declares, “Throw the whole weight of your anxieties on Him for you are His personal concern!”
I haven’t ever handled a real fisherman’s net. I would like to get my hands on one to just
experience how big, unwieldy and heavy it is. To see how it works. To ask how one knows where
to set it down in the water
Rodger Lopez. They also played the “Star Spangled Banner” and the Armenian national anthem.
Lopez said he’s often asked to play “Taps,” the bugle call played at dusk and during ceremonies.
The Sanger High NJROTC performed the flag raising ceremony. Melvin Spenhoff helped with the American flag. He said it was an honor even if he didn’t do much.
Spenhoff and his wife, Marie Dunbar, are in the process of moving into one of the villas with their dogs. “I’ve looked at almost all the retirement centers in the Fresno area, even Reedley, and we felt this was one of the best,” he said.
But what really sold him on the place was the culinary creations coming out of the kitchen headed by executive chef Kirk Steitz.
Steitz came by a moment later say hello to Stenhoff. When told of Stenhoff ’s high praise just seconds before, Steitz said, “I appreciate that.”
Then it was brought up that all the pastries sitting on the table in the new building's main entry were fresh made from the kitchen. “All scratch made,” Steitz said.
One was choreg, an Armenian sweetbread. All proved mouth-watering.
Mary Lou Bagdasarian, a board member for the facility, was among the last to leave after a ceremony attended by officials from far and wide. She gave some context when asked
See Flags, Page 4B
and how many fish it can bring up.
Why not make a net of your own cares and anxieties and hurl it out upon God’s ocean of grace and bring up a catch of peace, comfort and joy.
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force that meets the first and third Tuesdays every month. He can be reached at pastorsam51@gmail.com.
have balconies, and those on the ground floor, a patio. Three flags — California’s, Armenia’s and the stars and stripes — flew for the first time over a monument that sits just in
Catalina Island and San Clemente Island. It was a beautiful trip with lots of fish. Being out in the open sea coming into the coast of the different islands, I thought about the Apostle Peter the fisherman.
It is little stretch to imagine that his livelihood affected his ministry and his writings. One of his most-quoted verses, has to do with fishing. The one about “casting” our cares.
“Cast all your cares on Him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Imagine, you are Peter. You’re in a boat, afloat upon
front of the main doors to the new main apartment building, also known as the IL/AL for independent living and assisted living. The flagpoles serve as the centerpiece of the grounds,
a vast body of water. Your method of
fishing is not today’s rod and reel. Instead, you have this tangled, twisted mass that is your net.
Pastor Sam Estes
represents your “cares,” your anxieties, whatever is weighing you down.
Take that twisted thing off your shoulders
PASTOR’S CORNER
It’s heavy, burdensome and hard to work by yourself.
You take this soggy, cumbersome thing and you fling it away from you. Give it up. Let it fall trustingly upon the sea. The net
and throw it out upon the waters. You can trust
God! This is your act of submission, surrender. So really chuck it out there. Let it land upon the
one who cares the most for you. Cast your care upon God.