Tag Archives: la puente

Kiwanis Club gives socks, shoes to Rowland kids

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Katherine Rodriguez helps Edgar Hernandez put on his new shoes. (Photo Correspondent by Shilah Montiel/

Katherine Rodriguez helps Edgar Hernandez put on his new shoes. (Photo Correspondent by Shilah Montiel/

The Kiwanis Club showed a lot of Heart and Sole on Friday during its fourth annual shoe giveway. The Hacienda Heights club gave more than 100 pairs of new shoes to students in the Rowland Unified School District.

The Kiwanis set up camp at the new Family Resource Center in La Puente. There, they greeted the families as they arrived for their special treats.

“This year, we’ve helping 106 students who have been preselected by the school district,” said Kiwanian Dave Malkin. “Much of the money was raised by the Rowland Heights Senior Pathfinders group. Ashika Shoes also helped a lot.”

After registering, children moved over to a large book case, where they got to pick out a free book.

Little 4-year-old Brianna Cazun chose a colorful children’s book, while her mom picked out another for older daughter, Janeli, who attends Telesis Academy.

Another 4-year-old, Edgar Fernandez, finally decided on an alphabet book. The colorful pages were full of everyday items that began with a letter in the alphabet.

Read more in Rich Irwin’s story SHOES.

Rowland Unified opens new Family Resource Center

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The Family Resource Center staff used to warn visitors about holes in the floor of its old building in La Puente. Today, both the holes and the old center are gone and Rowland Unified is ready to open a new $800,000 building.

The dental clinic has certainly come a long way since opening in an old World War II Army trailer. “We don’t miss the old World War II dental chairs,” said Coordinator Jennifer Kottke.

Kottke showed off the new family center opening next Wednesday. Residents are invited to the opening from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. at 17800 E. Renault St., next to Northam Elementary School.

In March, the school district broke ground for the 3,200-square-foot building. The prefabricated building was delivered in sections, then a crane assembled the center.

• VIDEO: Coordinator Jennifer Kottke — We’ll be able to take better care of families

• VIDEO: The dental clinic has one new chair and hopes to get another

• VIDEO: Nurse practitioner Llona Mearig says staff is thrilled with new facility

Staff members have dreamed about getting a new building for 35 years. Kottke and Nurse Practitioner Llona Mearig worked tirelessly to obtain federal and state grants totalling more than $750,000.

For more detail, read Rich Irwin’s story RESOURCE

Hacienda La Puente Unified OKs design work on high school football fields

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Los Altos High players scrambles for a first down.

Los Altos High players scrambles for a first down.

The Hacienda La Puente Unified School Board has taken the first step toward getting new artificial turf at three high schools, as well as a new swimming pool at La Puente High. The board voted to add the projects to its priority list and begin design work on the $23 million proposals.

“It was a great day because this is long overdue,” said Board President Gino Kwok after the meeting. “It’s a watershed moment because its important to our students.”

Members of the boosters club from all four high schools packed the board meeting.

“We had 26 speakers comment about the poor shape of our fields and the La Puente pool,” noted board member Penny Fraumeni. “They complained about strained and broken ankles suffered from gopher holes on the football fields.”

La Puente High already has artificial turf on its football field and track. But the original swimming pool is full of cracks, which leaks up to six inches of water every day, according to Fraumeni.

“We keep wasting taxpayers’ money trying to fix that old pool,” Fraumeni explained. “We could have put that money toward a new swimming pool.”

The new board member ran on a platform calling for a new football stadium at Wilson High School. After the election, she said she realized the district couldn’t afford a new stadium.

“So I worked with board member Kwok, who thought we can could afford to replace the football fields and tracks,” Fraumeni said.

Kwok said they fought to get the projects added to the priority list. He said board member Anthony Duarte expressed serious concerns about paying for the projects.

“I’m for replacing the fields and the swimming pool,” agreed Duarte. “But I also want to know how we’re going to pay for it.”