Surf City girl honored for her volunteer...

Surf City girl honored for her volunteer work

Sarah Reinhart of Huntington Beach became a Cool Kid in her

community, when her volunteer efforts at the Wetlands and Wildlife

Foundation were highlighted on KABC-TV, channel 7.

For the past two years, the 17-year-old student has volunteered

every Saturday at the foundation caring for animals by giving

injections, taking blood samples, tube feeding, cleaning cages and

even doing the laundry and cleaning dishes, said her mother Janet

Reinhart.

Sarah was one of 20 students in California, chosen from among more

than 1,000, honored on television as an extraordinary individual and

received a $1,000 savings bond by Greenlight Financial. Sarah’s show

aired on May 29.

“All of her friends got to see [the show] and they showed it at

her school,” Reinhart said. “The neighbors said, ‘I saw you on TV,’

and she was excited about that.”

Sarah got involved with the foundation because she wanted to

become a veterinarian. She still plans to pursue a career in

medicine, but now plans to turn her attention to people. Reinhart

said she has seen positive changes in her daughter as a result of the

volunteer work.

“She has become very reliable and independent,” she said. “She

just does everything on her own now. It doesn’t bother her to try new

things and meet new people.”

Sarah is spending the summer in France as a part of an exchange

program, but plans to catch up on her work with the wetlands,

Reinhart said.

In its second year, the Greenlight Financial scholarship program

was designed to support education, honoring students who have

overcome great obstacles or who give back to their community.

“They are uncommon kids who are doing unique things,” a

spokesperson for Greenlight Financial said. “It boosts their work and

efforts and validates what they are doing.”

Huntington Beach High alumni picnic Sunday

More than 1,000 high school alumni will be reunited Sunday as the

Huntington Beach High School Alumni Assn. hosts its 10th annual Home Town Picnic at Lake Park in Huntington Beach.

“We get more than 1,000 people every year and it grows as years go

on,” said Ann Minnie, board member for the association. “We get

people from as far back as the 1920s.”

The picnic, held Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is open to all

past Huntington Beach High School student and their families. It is

free to attend but hamburgers, chips and drinks will be sold. Money

raised by the association will go toward scholarships or improvements

to the school, Minnie said.

“It started as a way for alumni to get together to get

reacquainted and it just grew from that,” Minnie said.

The picnic has become a tradition, she said,

“There’s a hometown feel to it,” Minnie said, a 1962 Huntington

Beach High School graduate. “It’s great to see people that you’ve

just known your whole life.”