Swinging for a cause has never meant more to the future than at The Youth Center’s second annual Golf Tournament held at the Recreation Golf Course in Long Beach recently.
For The Youth Center, the annual Golf Tournament encourages community involvement in the fight to develop meaningful educational programs to serve children year round.

Eight Bigbelly trash bins were recently installed throughout Los Alamitos. Republic Services provided three of the units and the other five were bought through funds produced by the Integrated Waste Management Act.
Following is a list with the details of the new Bigbelly trashcans.
• Solar Powered: Every Bigbelly and Smartbelly receptacle is connected to Cloud-based monitoring and control system via wireless data communication

The U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team closed out practice at the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) Aquatic Training Center last week in preparation to represent the United States in the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Ranked number one in the world, The U.S. team will be defending the gold medal it won at the London Olympic Games four years ago and has won every major tournament since 2014, including capturing the gold medal at the FINA World League Super Final last month in Shanghai, China.

Inspiring young minds to achieve their best is an aspiration of the Los Alamitos Education Foundation’s Summer Enrichment Institute held at Lee Elementary.
“We’re reaching as many students as we can to enrich their lives to college and beyond,” said Michael Kahn, who’s programs manager for LAEF.
Kahn said the classes at the summer institute aim to build upon what students learn during the regular school year.

Great entertainment, classic cars, dancers, and local communties converged at Oak Knoll Park for a day of fun at the Cypress Festival on Saturday, July 23. A Chili and Salsa cookoff was also in the mix. The winner of the chili contest was Fat Free Chili. The winner of the salsa contest was Santana Salsa.

Julie Woods’ Darcy, a 2-year-old short-haired dachshund, became one of the youngest doxies ever to win the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals after leading the championship race from start to finish in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 for the 21st running of the event on Saturday at the Los Alamitos Race Course.

The City of Cypress unveiled its newest public art piece, donated by Friends of Cypress Cultural Arts, on July 11 at the Cypress Community Center.
The statue is entitled “Just Like You” and was created by Colorado contemporary metal sculptor, Kevin Robb.
Mayor Mariellen Yarc welcomed the crowd in attendance and thanked the Friends of Cypress Cultural Arts for their continued contributions to the arts in our community.  Mayor Yarc stated, “These statues will truly be enjoyed by our community for years to come!”

LAEF’s King and Queen of Hearts graced the campus of Lee Elementary with their presence on Friday, July 15.  While visiting the 7th annual Summer Enrichment Institute, King Matt Herrick of Southland Credit Union and Griffins Grill read to children in the Jumpstart 1st Grade class.  Queen Adriana Preciado-Ziegenbusch, Seal Beach Lion of the Year, joined the Spanish Immersion Through Art class, where she sang, danced and spoke to students in her native tongue.  The children were very excited to meet the King and Queen, and they both allowed many of the children to try on

Los Alamitos Unified School District recently announced that Ondrea Reed has been selected as the new Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. She assumed her new role on July 6.
“The students, teachers, staff, and parents are what make it possible to ignite unlimited possibilities within our schools, and I look forward to working collaboratively with the communities of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Rossmoor to meet and exceed the needs of all students,” said Reed.

The American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 716, of Los Alamitos had a special presentation recently from Tom Tackett and Milan Franklin of the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation.
The Patriotic Service Dog Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on serving our veterans by raising awareness for their needs and providing Service Dogs to those who may benefit from long-term mental and physical assistance.

The Summer Enrichment Institute ended on Friday, July 22, but everything students have learned and experienced will last a lifetime.
The Los Alamitos Education Foundation (LAEF) has provided 94 classes this summer to students in grades K-12. Over 600 students took one or more SEI classes and learned more about reading, writing, math, theater, art, science, technology, physical fitness and much more.

The fifth Annual Art, Appetizer and Wine Pairing fundraiser was held Sunday, June 12 at St. Isidore Historical Plaza.
Four featured Artists, which were Robin Feely, Dorte Christjansen, Maureen Vastardism, and Katie Neipris, donated a work of Art which was paired with an appetizer.
This year’s event featured GANSO Island Grill, Coconut Rabbit, Huff’s and a couple who bought a Fermenting Pot last year and created petite Reuben’s with home made sauerkraut.

The Rotary Club of Long Beach inaugurated its hundredth new president last week, leading up to the club’s celebration of their centennial year in January 2017. Jayne Lastusky intends to spend her presidency continuing the club’s community service initiatives including local scholarships and service programs. Lastusky, a former region vice president of the American Cancer Society, was one of the first four women to join Long Beach Rotary in 1987 when the club became open to both genders.