This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Kid Power founder Tia Smart is now the ripe old age of 14 and — because she is involved in many pursuits, including volunteerism — is semiretired from the Thanksgiving fundraiser she began at age 8.
So she has passed the baton to two of her early recruits.
The leaders of the little army of preteens devoted to mustering money to buy turkeys and other food for the needy at Thanksgiving now are Maya Zaba, 12, and Maya's 9-year-old brother, Robby. The two joined Tia's initial effort when Mya was 6 and Robby was 3, going door to door and spreading the word at church and school to raise the cash, buy the turkeys and canned food and deliver them to the Utah Food Bank.
The Kid Power troops have done this every year since it began in 2008. During that time, they have collected more than $30,000 and purchased 3,500 turkeys.
This year, the band of about 20 kids between ages 8 and 14 gathered about $1,500 in contributions and bought 150 turkeys for the food bank.
Merri Lee Zaba, Mya's and Robby's mother, said the dollars were stretched further, thanks to the charity of the Wal-Mart on Parleys Way, which sold the turkeys at a discount to the kid-led charity.
Run for veterans • Salt Lake City defense attorney Ron Yengich has sponsored a 5-K event to raise money for charities each year since his brother, an investigative reporter for The Baltimore Sun, died 31 years ago.
The 31st annual Nick Yengich and Grandma Gump Fun Run/Walk will be Dec. 6 at 11 a.m. at Copperton Park, 10305 S. 8731 West. The entrance fee is $30.
Besides Nick Yengich, the event is named for Geraldine Ennis, who was a justice court judge in Draper and worked with troubled kids, who affectionately called her Grandma Gump. She died three years ago.
The event has raised about $5,000 each year for charity. Past recipients include a food bank, crime victims, a program for women to get mammograms and the Utah Humane Society.
This year's proceeds will go to homeless veterans.
"The fact that we have one homeless veteran in this country is a travesty," Yengich wrote in a letter promoting the event. "It transcends tragedy when we ask others to fight our wars for us and then don't make certain that the problems that come with that type of heroism are not addressed by our society."
Saved by an angel • Christine Frazier experienced the good, the bad and the ugly all in the same morning Nov. 14.
She was on her morning ride near Hogle Zoo at about 6:30 a.m., when she swerved to elude a vehicle. Her bike hit ice, tipped over and slammed her to the ground. The SUV she just missed went around her without stopping.
When Frazier tried to get up, she couldn't put weight on her left leg. She crawled to her bike to drag it to the roadside. Then, when she pushed on her hands, the ground gave way. She slid farther down an embankment, making it impossible for her to reach her cellphone in the backpack on her bike.
It was dark and cold. She couldn't move.
Suddenly, she heard a car stop and a man's voice asking if she needed help. When she explained her dilemma, the driver, John Murray, assessed her injury, lifted her into his car and put her bike in his trunk. He drove her to an emergency room and two hours later she was in surgery for a hip replacement. The impact from her fall had fractured her femur beyond repair.
She was released Monday from University Hospital and, thanks to Murray, is on the mend.
The sandbox ferries • Linda Findlay noticed for years that someone was placing toys in the sandbox at Salt Lake City's Laird Park. Each fall, someone would gather the toys, store them for the winter, then place them back in the sandbox come spring.
Findlay decided to do the same thing for the Parley's Way Park in her neighborhood about three years ago. She puts toy trucks and cars in the sandbox along with toy shovels, pails and other playthings. She then gathers them in the fall and stores them until the next spring. She has noticed that others have followed her lead and have put toys in the sandbox as well.
Doing good can be contagious.