In December, readers of the Mercury News had the privilege of meeting Jimmy Duarte, a De Anza College student who is active in wheelchair sports and summer camp programs for young people. His wish is to replace his broken-down power wheelchair with a new and reliable set of wheels to get him around school and to his other commitments.
But students at the Community School/New Start in Sunnyvale — a special program for young people who have struggled in traditional school settings — already know Duarte as an inspirational role model.
“We have been lucky to have Jimmy as a friend of our program and as a guest speaker,” wrote teacher Matt Wright in a note that accompanied a Wish Book donation that will help purchase Duarte’s new chair.
“Our students were moved by Jimmy’s article in the Mercury News and decided to take action. The money we donated was raised as a class, through our class store, for our end-of-the-semester party, but it was decided as a class that we would donate the money to Jimmy instead,” Wright said.
For 27 years, thousands of Mercury News readers have helped their neighbors achieve their dreams through donations to the Wish Book. Since its inception, more than $6 million has been distributed to provide warm jackets, shiny new bikes, nutritious meals — and a leg up for people who most need it.
This year’s series of stories appeared in the newspaper from Nov. 26 through Dec. 24. To read the Wish Book stories and make a secure online donation, visit www.mercurynews.info/wishbook. Gifts also may be made by mail using the coupon that accompanies this story.
Wish Book readers may earmark their gifts to particular stories or causes, or make general contributions. Donations of any size continue to be welcome and are tax deductible.
Following is a partial list of donors; look for more names each weekend.
Marianne L. Ambrosini; Leslie Anido; Ricka Berns, in honor of Carol Matre and Dick Swanson; Rhonda Berry, in honor of Bo Buhisan and Steve and Barbara Donato; Donna L. Betts; Alice Bittner; Jimmie Brooks, in honor of Gary Brooks; Bruce Burkard;
Marie Chan, in honor of Edith Poon; Kim Chau, in honor of Gilbert Aviles; Alice Chetkovich; David Cohen; Deb Colden, in honor of her clients; Marilou Cristina, in honor of the Catholic Charities executive team; Margaret Dallas, in honor of Peggy Dallas; Nikki Davis, in honor of the Davis family; William DeHart; Sandra DeMars, in honor of the Silicon Valley Tigers; Sandra DiGiulio; Hugh and Brian Donagher; Fred and Cassandra Dotzler;
Janet and Mark Farabaugh; Solon and Diane Finkelstein; Nancy Fischbein, in honor of Dr. Michael J. Kaplan and family; Friends at C.T. English, in memory of Margaret Mary Thompson; Markus Fromherz, in honor of Bastian, Lara, Markus and Heike; Fremont Union High School District’s Community School/New Start, Sunnyvale; L.J. Glenn Jr.; David E. Gold; Gayle Gordon; Sheridan Govers; Barbara J. Grieser, in honor of her team at work;
Wendy Hansen, in honor of Lidia Donez and Kai and Annika Donez; Kyczy Hawk; Joel and Queta Herrera; Laurie Huth; Lorraine Jedda, in honor of Max Jedda; Jeff Jensen; Angelina Johnson, in honor of Don Cordero; James Johnson; Stephen Johnson; Bankim and Zarina Kaji, in honor of the Kaji family children; Mary C. Kelly; Nancy Keith Kelly; Veronica Lara; Amy Leisenring; Kari Lemons, in honor of the Bay Area Khmer Kids Adopted Kids Group; Lisa Leyva; Jerilyn Lightfoot; Ed and Erma Linn; Tz-yi Liu; Deborah Love-Sudduth; Bev and Bill Lozoff; Jane Luthard;
Mary P. Mayfield, in honor of Danny McCalister; Sally McAuliffe; John Mendalla, in honor of Kaela Starr Mendalla; Rachel A. Mino, in honor of Gary Neustadter and Patty Rauch Neustadter; Cathy Minshall; Carl Mistek; Maria Moore, in honor of Ted and Diane Danen; Alan H. Murphy; Sharon Nelson; Paul and Carolyn Newburn; Paul Niewiadomski; Mark K. Oto;
The Plank family; Melinda Po, in honor of William Hubbard; Carol Pochodylo; Shay Quillen, in honor of the Wish Book; Cynthia L. Ralston; Carol Ramsay; Matt and Heather Robbins; Bill and Karin Roeschlein; Mr. and Mrs. Cary Sakamoto; Mr. and Mrs. Michail Sathy; M.M. Schreck, in honor of the Wish Book; Judi Seip; Kathie C. Sheehy, in memory of Marion Cusack; Susan Sherman; Linda Sherry, in honor of Erna and Max Eisenmann and Martha and Bob Guthrie; Senthil Nathan Sivaraj; Laura and Jerry Slick; Sanghavi Srinivasan; Tim Strand, in honor of Kassandra Le;
Mary Taylor, in memory of Kara Taylor; Terry Tonty, in honor of Jessie Tonty Gibson; Cath and Greg Trindle, in honor of Andi Trindle and Jessica Carbullido; Ryan and Allison Uyehara; Patti and Erik van der Burg; Gary and Tina Virshup, in memory of Sahel Heydari; Lynn Wallace; Mary Jane Wallace; Karen Wang; Louise Warburton, in honor of Quilters and Chatters; Suzan Webb, in honor of the Kovach family; Mr. and Mrs. Robin Williams; John G. Wilson; Marsha, Terry, Tiffany and Bryan Yang.
Send questions or comments about Wish Book stories to wishbook@mercurynews.com or call coordinator Holly Hayes at 408-920-5374.
