OCCTAC NEWS

Dear Friends! We have a wonderfully easy way for you to help us! Shop at your local Albertson's and they will donate 4% of all your shopping expenses to us through their Community Partners Action. All you need is your Preferred Shopper card with customer number and our organization ID number. That is "49001011598" for OCCTAC. Register online at http://www.albertsonscp.com/relaunch.pdf or print out the form from this post or our OCCTAC forms album on the left and take it to your market's customer service desk. Once you are registered, every time you shop at Albertson's and swipe your Preferred Shopper card you get great discounts and we get 4 % from Albertson's. Thank you for taking the time to register and helping us!

Newport Beach, February 2009 We are very grateful to Festival of Children Foundation President Sandy Segerstrom Daniels for opening the doors to her family's home to help us launch our first capital fundraising campaign. OCCTAC moved two years ago to its current location to accommodate the growing need for space but we are again reaching the limits. In 2000 when we opened our doors we served about 40 families. We are now serving about 800 families! And the number of students keeps growing. It is difficult to coordinate many art classes in a space that is not specifically designed and built to facilitate our center. We know that we will be able to serve our students and community better if we can acquire a permanent center building that we can then design to our specific needs. So we are asking our friends and donors, our families and our community to help us achieve this beautiful goal. If you can help, please contact us! Phone: (714) 547 5468. Email: Ana@occtac.org Subject Line: A

La dedicación de una familia transformó a niña autista en cantante de ópera 10 de febrero de 2009, 11:47 AM Santa Ana (California), 10 feb (EFE).- A los 4 años Stephanie, la hija mayor de José Luis y Elida Día, fue diagnosticada con autismo severo y retraso mental y ahora, a sus 14 , llena de magia los escenarios interpretando exigentes óperas con su voz de soprano. "El caso de Stephanie es considerado por muchos, incluyéndonos a nosotros, como un verdadero milagro y es que su trayecto ha sido muy duro, pero en ningún momento dejamos de buscar ayuda para ella y ese esfuerzo ha valido la pena", dijo el padre de Stephanie, José Luis Díaz, en entrevista con Efe. La niña nació en Santa Ana, California, en mayo de 1994. "Nació sin fuerza en los músculos de los párpados y no podía abrir sus ojos, tuvimos que esperar a que cumpliera un año para operarla, también tenía glaucoma y problemas motrices, cuando estuvo más grande salieron a relucir sus problemas de comunicación y lueg