16th Annual Hertitage Day Parade & Festival 2007
February 24th 2007
Photos by Warren Kendrick and Billy Bruner
Article by: Billy Brunner
The 16th Annual San Diego Heritage Day Festival & Parade was held on Saturday, February 24th, 2006. The Heritage Day Festival and Parade is a “grassroots” community affair that takes place annually during Heritage Month. In 1996, the Heritage Day event received a proclamation from San Diego City Officials declaring the last Saturday of every February as “Heritage Day” for all cultures. In addition to reinforcing the rich tradition and history and being a positive influence to the social and economic condition of the community, Disney Channel Star, “Raven” of “That’s so Raven”, and Nu-Way Operation BHILD Took the opportunity to help raise awareness for the immediate need of bone marrow donors. The San Diego Blood Bank Stem Cell Donor Center held a drive for those who wanted to be on the Bone Marrow registry and wanted to donate Bone Marrow.
Billy Bruner, Dan Cole, Wally Haley, Warren Kendrick, and Roger Pollock and Pat Sweeney supported the event by volunteering the use their convertibles to transport Dignitaries in the Parade. There were two special groups that our member transported in the event. The first was Police Captain Octavia Parker and her daughter. Captain Octavia Parker was presented the Carter G. Woodson Award.
This award is presented to an individual of strong morale character that has been instrumental in empowering communities through positive reinforcement. The other special group was the Grand Marshal, which was the Ayon family. The Ayon’s are a local family who has 2 children with leukemia. Luis, age 15 and Daniela, age 10 are 2 special children in need or finding a Bone Marrow match so that they may get a transplant. The parents of these children are Luis & Margarita Ayon and they have been helping raise community awareness for the need of donors. They need all the support they can get from the community and from Bone Marrow donators. Bone Marrow is necessary for strength and vitality in the body.
You can help save a life by becoming a Bone Marrow donor. For More information on the San Diego Blood Bank Stem Cell Donor Center or how to become a Bone Marrow Donor please visit http://www.sandiegobloodbank.org/bone_marrow/ or the National Marrow Donor Program at http://www.marrow.org/. Your donation is completely safe and confidential.
