RIALTO – A soccer clinic will feature a player with Olympic skills.

Sasha Victorine of Chivas USA will visit 2009 Soccer and Fitness Clinic at Jerry Eaves Park on Saturday.

The event is for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 15, and is sponsored by the Joe Baca Foundation.

“They’re going to learn about the three “f’s” – fun, fitness and fundamentals,” Councilman Joe Baca Jr. said.

Victorine is a nine-year veteran of Major League Soccer.
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RIALTO – The city’s representative in Washington, D.C., took time out Tuesday from dealing with a few turkeys on Capitol Hill to hand out a lot of turkeys on Foothill Boulevard.

“You always feel good about helping people and caring about people,” said Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino. “That’s what makes life good, knowing that you’ve touched someone’s life.”
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GAITHERSBURG – AmeriDream, in partnership with the Association for Homeowners Across America, announced today that it has donated $25,000 to the Rialto-based Joe Baca Foundation to assist local firefighters. The donation facilitated the purchase of desperately-needed firefighting equipment – such as boots, masks, and hydration equipment – to help local firefighters in the Rialto community. Recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area, including Rialto, claimed two lives, 49 structures, and 18,000 acres. Dominique Powell, Sr. Vice President of Outreach for AmeriDream presented the check and the safety equipment to members of the Joe Baca Foundation and the firefighters in Rialto on Friday. “I was delighted to come to Rialto today to represent AmeriDream. Providing additional safety equipment for the men and women who so often put their lives at risk to protect the lives and homes of others is just a small way we can help further our mission,” said Powell.
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Rialto’s firefighters are about to get some new firefighting gear.

On Friday, the Joe Baca Foundation will hand over $20,000 worth of wildland firefighting boots, backpacks and personal water tanks.

The gear will help prevent firefighters from being injured when they help Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service do wildland firefighting, as opposed to more traditional municipal firefighting, said Captain Nash Briones, who is also secretary and treasurer of the Rialto Professional Firefighters.

The department recently purchased a new brush engine based on the north end that can be used for wildland firefighting.
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RIALTO – The thud of basketballs and sound of screeching sneakers set the ambience inside the gymnasium at Eisenhower High School on Saturday, where 125 youths participated in the inaugural Joe Baca Foundation Basketball Fitness Clinic.

The free basketball clinic was a chance for underprivileged boys and girls to learn the fundamentals of basketball and importance of physical fitness.

“It’s fun, fitness and fundamentals. I call it the three F’s,” said John Arnold, one of several coaches who took part in the clinic.
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Article Launched: 05/08/2008 11:O8:50 PM PDT

On Friday, Barbara Baca will do what she loves to do.

On behalf of the Joe Baca Foundation, she will help present academic assistance to under-served but deserving students in the Inland Empire.

For its inaugural Joe Baca Foundation Reception & Scholarship Awards event, the foundation will provide $1,000 scholarships to 36 diligent recipients from 16 area schools.
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A couple of Stones provided some rock-solid advice to youngsters during the annual Baseball and Fitness Clinic last Saturday in Rialto.

Wesley Stone, a 2005 graduate of Fontana A.B. Miller High School who is now with the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization, joined former Major League Baseball player Jay Johnstone and several other professional competitors at the event, with was coordinated by the Joe Baca Foundation.
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RIALTO – Nine-year-old Patrick Boswell of Highland got a crash course in baseball fundamentals at Frisbie Park on Saturday.

By mid-morning, Patrick said he had learned “how to catch a grounder right and how to run around the bases right.”

The youth-oriented Joe Baca Foundation, named for the congressman, presented the free fitness and baseball clinic to about 200 children ages 4 to 14. This is the second consecutive year the foundation has held the clinic.
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The Joe Baca Foundation plans to award 20 scholarships to college-bound high school students in the western San Bernardino Valley.

Applicants must live in San Bernardino, Muscoy, Colton, Rialto, Fontana, Bloomington or Ontario.

Those applying must submit a scholarship application, a 200-word personal statement, two letters of recommendation, official transcripts to verify a minimum 2.0 grade point average and proof of acceptance or registration from a college or university. Applicants also must be available for an interview.
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