THIS ONE'S FOR YOU, MOMS
The mayoral candidates cap a busy weekend with appearances at the 'world's largest' Mother's Day celebration.
BHAVNA MISTRY
Daily News Staff Writer
RESEDA - In one of the largest celebrations of its kind, more than 1,500 Los Angeles residents gathered Sunday at the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging to celebrate Mother's Day.
The festivities gave residents a chance to spend a fun-filled day with their friends and family, and the event also focused special attention on Rosie Espinoza as Mother of the Year.
"Mother's Day will never be Mother's Day as it is today," Espinoza said as she accepted her award. "I will never forget this day."
It was 11 years ago that Espinoza started her after-school tutoring program, but it wasn't just her garage door that she opened in 1990, she also the allowed neighborhood kids into her heart.
"You never know what is going to happen when you take your role as mother seriously," Espinoza said. "We will go to the extreme to make sure our kids are safe."
Determined to do whatever she could to keep her son out of gangs and stop her community from deteriorating, the La Habra mother invited kids into her garage, hoping to keep them off the streets and out of trouble.
"It doesn't matter if we are Jewish, Asian, Hispanic or African-American," Espinoza said. "We are all mothers. We share that same feeling when it comes to our children." Espinoza, who was elected to the La Habra City Council in November, was brought to tears as she accepted an afghan made by hand by Ida Colaw, 85, who has lived at the home for five years.
"I'm forever grateful," Espinoza said. "This is just unbelievable."
Mother and student winners of an essay contest on "Why My Mother is the Best" were also given special recognition Sunday.
Amber Hodson, 11, of Calvert Street Elementary School in Woodland Hills, who won in the fourth- and fifth-grade division, read an essay she had written about her mother, who died eight years ago.
"She raised me the best she could until she died. She helped me get where I am today. I love my mother and always will have her memory in my heart and soul. You see, my mom is the best because she accomplished her goals and gave me life before she died." Amber thanked her aunt and uncle who have taken care of her and her brother since her mother's death.
"I love my dear aunt and uncle," she read. "I honor them and respect them for the love and responsibility they have shown."
Besides the awards, the celebration included music and dancing, visits by political candidates, clowns and face painting, food and ice cream, and plenty of family.
"Mother's Day is a recognition of all mothers," said Colaw, 85, who had lived for 40 years in Twenty-nine Palms before moving to the home. "It's all about celebrating the life of the family, giving honor specifically to the mother."
Surrounded by her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter, resident Ethel Einhorn said that every day is Mother's Day for her.
"It's been Mother's Day practically every day," said Einhorn, 90, who is constantly visited by family members. "I'm very lucky. I feel like a rich woman."
Besides her regular visits, Einhorn also gets to participate weekly with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter's Mommy and Me class.
The celebration at the Jewish Home was one of many throughout the Southland. California State University, Northridge, students and others participated in a Mother's Day Run, Walk and Wheel to raise funds for a new adaptive aquatic therapy center. In Studio City, mothers were given a free car wash, and in Santa Monica, mothers were give a free ride on the Pacific Wheel at Pacific Park on the pier.
Dodger Stadium was the site of a Mother's Day breakfast, and thousands of needy women showed up at the Fred Jordan Mission of Los Angeles, where they received free food and gifts.