Dear Friends of Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA),

A big thank you to all of our contributors. Our summer education, arts and athletics programs are in full swing! A special thanks to the Riccard family, Wells Fargo, Fox Sports en Español and Southwest Airlines for helping to make these incredible summer experiences happen!

Sincerely,

Tony M. Brown
Executive Director

Summer Session
HOLA's Summer Session is in full swing! Our SmartStart summer day camp has given local elementary students an opportunity to go on summertime adventures and engage in quality learning experiences. Campers have been participating in theater, hands-on science, creative writing, art, math and computer classes, as well as weekly swimming lessons. The boys and girls also take weekly field trips to local museums and educational venues throughout the Los Angeles area. Trips have included visits to the Getty Center, the Hollywood Bowl and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

Our middle school students are participating in a wide variety of classes ranging from printmaking to yoga, in addition to educational enrichment classes. Middle school field trips this summer have included the Body Worlds exhibit at the California Science Center, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Museum of Tolerance, and the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Robert "Tony" Gamez, HOLA alumni and Los Angeles Valley College graduate, recently won the NBA Nation Kia Motors Performance Challenge! The contest consisted of a skills challenge course in which contestants tested their skills at dribbling, shooting and passing. Contests were held in eight cities across the country, and the contestants with the best times moved on to the finals. Gamez, with his family in tow, entered the local contest in Dallas. Wearing cargo shorts and a polo shirt, Gamez set the best record of the day at 21.3 seconds. Gamez went home that evening happy, tired and with a signed NBA basketball. The next morning he received a call telling him he would be competing with 8 other finalists from around the country for the grand prize of a brand new Kia Motors Borrego EX. The finalists received roundtrip air for two, hotel accommodations for 3 nights, and transportation to and from the challenge in Dallas. "I was just happy to be there and to play basketball" says Gamez, who ended up beating his own score by 2 seconds and taking home the keys to the KIA. Congratulations, Tony!

Summer Arts Program
For the third consecutive summer, HOLA is providing middle and high school neighborhood artists with the opportunity to explore their creative talents in HOLA's Summer Arts Program. Under the instruction and supervision of master artists Dan McCleary and Carmen Argote, the three week program offers a rigorous curriculum of drawing and painting classes and art history lectures on such subjects as impressionism, expressionism and surrealism.

In addition, students have been treated to two LACMA field trips and a guest lecture series which has included artists Katherine Sherwood and Ramone Munoz. The program will culminate with an art show on Saturday, July 26, from 2-4pm, and will be followed by a blessing offered by Father Gregory Goethals, J.S. and Donna Pall. Special thanks to Tom & Dana Riccard and family and Wells Fargo Bank for helping to underwrite this program, giving all 23 students a completely FREE Summer Arts Program.

Central City Girls Basketball Association (CCGBA)
The HOLA girls CCGBA basketball team recently scored back to back wins against their top two rivals, Red Shield and Bressee. The wins were an incredible boost to the team that got off to a tough start this year. Led by top team scorer Camille Baker, averaging 18 points per game, and inspirational team captain, Grace Castaneda, the girls hope to continue their run in the playoffs. Playoffs will begin August 5th, with HOLA fighting for the fifth seed. Special thanks to the Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation and LA84 Foundation for helping to underwrite this program.

FSE Cup
During the weekend of July 19th, fourteen teams from all four corners of Los Angeles met in Lafayette Park to compete in the 2nd Annual Fox Sports En Español Summer Cup 2008. Over 150 high school boys participated in the tournament, displaying beautiful soccer moves, astonishing goals and hard-tackling defensive plays. In the end, last year's champion, Salvation Army, gave up a goal in overtime to the Bresee Foundation and a new FSE Cup Champion was crowned.

The FSE Summer Cup is an event that brings young people together from different parts of the City into a healthy and exciting soccer tournament that promotes respect and self-discipline. In the welcoming ceremony, HOLA staff stressed those goals and motivated all participants to treat their opponents with the utmost respect. Our motto is respect, have fun and play hard!

The participants represented over forty different schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District and local private schools. Los Angeles was represented by Belmont, LA Leadership, Camino Nuevo, Miguel Contreras, Bravo, Value High, Manual Arts, Cathedral, Los Angeles High and Hollywood high schools. South Central was represented by Centennial, Compton, Freemont, and Locke high schools. The West was represented by Venice and Crossroads high schools. Valley schools included Birmingham, Monroe, Reseda and Polytechnic high schools. East Los Angeles was represented by Roosevelt, El Monte and Garfield high schools. The City of Bell Flower was represented by John Bosco high school

We encourage you to check our website for updates www.heartofla.org. Thank you for your continued support!