Villa Esperanza Guild held their 13th Annual A Day of Thoroughbred Racing at Santa Anita Park on Saturday, February 26th. Nearly 200 guests attended the event which included lunch and a great view of the racing action from The Turf Club. The Guild raised over $68,000 to support the Hjelte-Phillips Speech and Language Center and Residential and Independent Living programs at Villa Esperanza Services.

This year's Race Day Committee was chaired by Barbara Jameson of San Marino and Judi Moore of Bradbury under the leadership of Guild President Marie Jones of San Marino. The Villa Esperanza Guild was formed in 1968 to increase awareness of the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities.

Committee members for the event were Sally Irving, Marty Digges, and Linda Matsuno-Parmenter of San Gabriel; Debbie Hart of Temple City; Georgene Neely, Anne Letton, and Ginny Muller of San Marino. Other Guild committee members include: Cynthia Lewis of Pasadena; Nancy Pierson of Sierra Madre; Helen Vaughan of Altadena and Maryann McKinley of Bakersfield.

Thank you to the Guild for their hard work and to everyone who donated and attended. A special thank you to Tom and Mary Bristow of the UPS Store for donating the postage for the event and Ewing & Beland who donated the programs.

Villa Esperanza Services is celebrating 50 years of changing lives of individuals with special needs associated with autism and other developmental disabilities. Villa serves children, adults and seniors and their families in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties by offering a comprehensive school for children up to the age of 22 years; a Speech and Language Center and Occupational Therapy Clinic; employment services and day programs for adults; adult residences in Pasadena and Thousand Oaks. For more information please call (626) 449-2919 or visit us at www.VillaEsperanzaServices.org.