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Show B1 Wecbesday, November 26, 2003 Community Calendar O November 26 Trees for Charity Festival. Nov. 26-3Western Park. Closed Thursday, Thanksgiving. Set up Wednesday 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Mew trees Friday and Saturday 1 a m. - 9 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Uintah High School end of first trimester. Dismissed following lunch at 12:30 for holiday. Last ditch effort of Utah turkeys to urge pork, the other white meat, goes before Supreme Court. 0. 789-739- 6, WerraaD By Maureen Spencer Express Writer When Grandpa and Grandma Thacker missed an airplane flight in 1995, the gentle-heartecouple changed the futures of their entire extended family. Some moments in time are like that, and this was one such event for Vernals Michael and Kim Thacker Bradley and their children. Thacker posterity yet to come, will feel the consequences of that missed Thanksgiving flight. At and t'hery I Thacker had helped an optometrist friend gather donatfor several years and ed eyeglas-ethen traveled to Nuevo Casas Grandcs, Mexico, where they helped distribute them to hundreds of the sight impaired. Thacker recalls the wonderful feelings they experienced watching a toddler see his mothers face for the first time. The area is home to approximately 125,000 people living in towns and villages and is 120 miles south Life there is of Doming. N.M. deceptively 'simple. The government will not accept a child into the school system if it born handicapped. Bearing a handicapped child is grounds for a husband to abandon both wile and child. Poverty prevents mothers from having proper pre natal food, thus noticeably increasing the incidence of children born with clubbed feet and cleft pallets, among other physical problems. Abandoned and with a handi-capH- d child to care for, a woman can find no way out of poverty. In 1995, the Thackers went to Mexico with the eyeglass project and an overbooked airplane kept them in Mexico overnight, staying with friends Ld and Gayle Whetton in Coloma Juarez. That night, they discovered that there was much that could be done to help the extremely poor and the handicapped of Nuevo Casas Grandcs. This was a Thanksgiving none of Thacker's family will ever forget. Casas Grandcs had just found Santa and a continuing, year-lon- g rotation of "elves from Lhah, many from Venial. A I Thacker is the kind of man who knows he cant heal the wot Id, but he can try to make a difference in one tow n. In November 1995, he knew that to help 1(X) grituhngly poor families with handicapped children, he needed to come up with 1(X sewing machines to give l(X) poor women to use, enabling them to make a living for their families. from Spanish So, back home, fork to Ogden, Thacker Went to every sewing machine shop, retailer and salesman he could find to obtain donated new or refurbished machines. The l(X) machines, along with all kinds of other donated items, went with "Santa to Mexico a month later at Christmas. The need tor legal organization became apparent early on. Large donations require legal tax recognition. Al Thacker wrestled for days over what to name his activities, lie awoke one night with the answer clear in his mind. "The Tiny Tim Foundation for Kids was bom-nam- ed for the cheerful adopted Mexican son of their old friends, the Wheltons. Timothy Whetton had been born with cerebral palsy. Before long, the Thackers were spending 40 or more hours a week soliciting medical supplies from Utah doctors, dentists and health d s oira Cig gjBvBinig ffainniSDy care businesses. j, Now retired, this forme barber and his wife look at a childs physical handicap and poverty as an to opportunity opportunity...an find abilities to own their expand and obtain donations to relieve suf- . - COPY 1 November 27 Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, (the turkeys lost.) No Rotary. Thanksgiving Pow Wow. Ron Cuch for details. 545-215- November 28 Santas Workshop 7 p.m. cratl'gift sales, Middle School auditorium. 3-- annual Vernal Cody, 789-576- 6. Dinosaur Gardens Lighting, last lighting at present location, approx. 5 p.m. Community dance at Center, 155 South 100 p.m. every Friday night. provides the music. Thanksgiving Pow Cuch for details. Golden Age West. Kay's Band Wow. Ron 545-215- November 29 annual Santa's Workshop crafVgift sales, 9 a.m. to 5 p in. Vernal Middle School auditorium. top. 789-576- 6. Cody. Thanksgiving Pow Wow. Ron Cuch for details. Benefit penning jackpot for I ee Mecham whose saddle shop burned recently. At 9 a.m.. Western Park indoor arena. Sponsored by Uintah Basin Team Penning Clubs. Dustins Eagle crew made 342 "stockings for Casas Grandes. Their son Devin is a senior in high school this year. He is a track, hockey and soccer letterman, and in the Honor Society. He also supervised the making of 40 quilts for Casas Grandes as his Eagle Scout project. Their daughter Kristin and her friends are making fabric dolls for the Casas Grandes Christmas this 545-215- 6. 789-371- December t Trees for Charity Auction 6:30 p.m. Santa's Community Effort donations being taken at Vernal City Offices, 447 East Muin. New toys or 789-135- 2. year. The Bradley family works together annually to decorate a spectacular tree for the Trees for Charity to raise money for the Tiny Tim Foundation. Money is another thing there is not enough of in their adopted Mexican region. Grandpa Thacker made a wonderful discovery. "For $40, 1 can feed , a family for a whole month, he tells folks. "How many families would you like to feed! He had carefully researched basic foods available-thin- gs like beans, salt, rice, potatoes, a side of bacon and a rare treat of oranges. "These people dont waste, Mike Bradley can testify. Bradley, and his family, know first hand what life is like in Casas Grandes. They have been there many times, frequently helping to remodel and expand a building into a school for the handicapped, a surgical center, two bathrooms and a accomphysical therapy center-a- ll plished with donated materials, individually funded trip expenses, volunteer electricians, plumbers and building crews that Grandpa has solicited. The LDS Church has donated bales of towels, coats and general use rags. Hospitals donate obsolete medical equipment, wheelchairs, walkers and machines. Volunteer American physicians go and straighten clubbed feet and make deft pallets w hole with their surgeries in the clinic which the family has helped to build. All through Grandpas kindly inquiries. A building company in Salt Lake City hits donated entire building kits and crews to enhance the medical and humanitarian facilities this family has identified as needed. Mountain View Dialysis Center in Vernal and Roosevelt sent two Thacker plays Santa for untold numbers of children Grandes throughout the year. I troiucudl fering. Al and Cheryl, now in their late 60s make six to eight trips to Casas Grandcs a year. Thacker children and spouses, and their children, have been shown the concept of cfuinty-a- n important family value. Michael and Kim Bradley of Venial have seen "grandpas projects become a large part of their own lives: Their son Logan supervised 40 quilts for Grandpas sub for Santa as his Eagle Scout project and collected bags and bags of clothing all for Casas Grandes. Clothing is not as important there, says Kim. What they dont have is socks. So, son Dustin did his Eagle Scout project c eating Christmas stockings- - made from a pair of tube socks filled with a conib, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, washcloth, small toy, pencil, paper and a pen and tied together at the in Casas clothing. 8 a.m,-- 5 p.m. Monday-FridaTeddie Kathy Clearinghouse of community Christmas donations for the needy. 789-342- 789-488- 0, surgical center and brother-in-la- A w eventually emerge from this poor beginning. Mike Bradley measures for roof beams Hal Thacker steadies the ladder. will December 2 of Vernal Area Chamber Commerce. Noon. Golden Corral. Nolan Karras, gubernatorial candidate speaking. Laptime stories hosted by Prime Time 4 Kids at Uintah County Library. 10:30 a.m. ages 0 to 3. e Stories, music, activity. take-hom- December 3 Santas Community Effort appli- cations will be due Friday, Dec. 5. Available at Ashley Valley lood North. East 200 Pantry, 426 of community Clearinghouse Christmas donations for the needy. or Teddie, Kathy Namesake for the Tiny Tim 789-342- 789-488- 0, Foundation is Timothy Whetton. December 4 Kim Bradley and sister Nicole Thacker help pick up groceries to feed families for a month. T Noon. Stockmans Rotary. Restaurant. TOPS meets in Conference Room 0 of Vernal City Building. II p.m. Gwen Peterson, Open House a.m.-12:3- 789-835- 6. 11:30-12:3- ( ! 0. December 5 Santa's Community Effort applications due. Available at Ashley Valley Food Pantry, 426 Fast 200 North. Clearinghouse of community Christmas donations for the needy. or Teddie, Kathy 789-488- Extreme poverty is a plague Nuevo Casas Grandes. in Century 3 dialysis machines and the Uintah Care Center donated two Century 2 dialysis machines for the trip made by some of the Bradleys to Mexico the first part of this month. People in Casas Grandes who need dialysis generally just go home to die. Doctors there own their own hospitals and poverty does not allow for costly treatments. These donated machines will increase the quality of life for dozens of people using the free clinic. This year, the Bradleys are positive their Christmas will be exactly what their children want. A vote was taken. The decision was instant and unanimous. There will be no electronic games, lettermens jackets, prom dresses or household appliances under their tree. The Bradleys will be spending the holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Thacker in Mexico helping with Sub for Santa and to help on the "building. Al yoar They will go to the villages of Polomas, Asccncion, and to a Mennonitc colony. "And that little town that's 10 miles down that 789-342- 5. Vemal Ladies of Elks will have a State Presidents visitation meeting. 6 p.m, at the Lodge before the Charity Ball. Roosevelt Electric I ipbtx Pirade 722-500- 1. Devin Bradley of Vernal joins cousin Lindsay Thacker in mixing adobe mortar for the schoolmedical center building, road, Kim reminds Mike f mping her hand in that "shorthand" of speech that two people use who share total know ledge of a subject. They will drive up and down the streets, stopping at the poorest homes they can find, and deliver an astonishing donated bounty, including warm quilts made in Vernal. This years Bradley family Christmas money will be used for gas to drive to Mexico and back to Vernal, and for motel rooms for Mike and Kim, Erin, Emilee, Dustin. Devin and Kristin. It will go towards meals on the road and expenses once they arrive in Nuevo Casas Grandes. They will spend a good 18 hours on the road each way. When they return, they will probably be able to say, "This was the best Christmas weve ever had. Grandpa Thacker wanted his fam- - Community dance at Golden Age Center, 155 South 100 West, 0 p.m. every Friday night. Kays Band provides the music. December 9 g Uintah County Library, 6:30-- 8 p.m. with Robins Nest. Vemal Area Chamber of Commerce. Noon. Golden Corral Tim Bridgewater, 2nd Congressional District candidate speaking. scrap-bookin- December 10 Santa's Community Fffort dona- tions due at Vemal City Offices, 447 East Main. New toys or clothing. 8 a.m. 5 p.m. -- Ed Bullocks two donated dialysis machines went to Mexico earlier this month. ily to leam charity. Charity, it is written, is love. He seems to have succeeded. To place items of public interest on the Community Calendar, mail to the Vemal Express, P.O. Box 1000, editor (irvemal.com, or call the Vemal Express at 789- - 3 5 11 . |