Tempe bowls into plans
for students’ holiday travel
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Editor
Colorado and Florida have tradi
tionally been the hot spots for college
students going on winter break vaca
tions, but this year students will add
another destination to that list: Tempe,
Ariz.
Lisa Jensen, a leisure-travel con
sultant for Omni Travel, said her
agency sold in two hours all 45 travel
packages it offered to the Fiesta Bowl
in Tempe.
People bought packages so quickly
because the hard-to-obtain bowl tick
ets were included, she said. The $899
package also included lodging and
air fare.
Kris Smith, a sophomore in pre
dentistry, said he and his family
planned to cut costs of traveling to see
the Husker football team in the Fiesta
Bowl by staying with his grandpar
ents.
But Smith doesn’t need to be con
cerned about paying for the trip. It’s
a Christmas present from his parents.
“I guess it would be pretty expen
sive if I had to pay for it,” Smith said.
Smith said he was looking forward to
the trip, especially reveling with fel
low Husker fans.
“I just hope there’s a lot of Ne
braska fans there. Maybe we can tail
gate before the game,” Smith said.
Ann Trumble, a sophomore in
landscape design, is planning a win
ter break trip to Colorado, she said.
She and a friend will drive to Boul
der on Dec. 26 and stay a week with
friends who live there.
The whole trip will cost $250 each,
she said, because staying with friends
will save on food and lodging ex
penses.
“They take good care of us while
we’re out there,” Trumble said.
A bulk of Trumble’s time will be
spent on the ski slopes of Vail, Beaver
Creek and Copper Mountain, she said.
Trumble said she didn’t mind
spending the holiday season away
from her family at home.
“As long as I’m there for Christ
mas day, it doesn’t really matter.
Actually, it will probably be good to
get away,” Trumble said.
Students who don’t have friends to
stay with or family members to help
pay the way can often arrange trips
through travel agencies at reasonable
prices.
Craig Deats, manager for Aard
vark Travel, said the agency offered
packages to Padre Island, Texas, and
Cancun, Mexico, with various op
tions: hotel, or condominium; on the
beach or in town.
“There’s so many places to stay
down there, it depends on what you’re
looking for,” Deats said.
Those packages range from $600
to $1,000 depending on land or air
transportation.
But Deats said the best trip for the
buck was a cruise, costing around
$500.
“It’s just a good time. There’s so
much to do. Everything is taken care
of for you.
“And the food’s just incredible.”
Pacific Coast Chicken
Classic Chocolate Malt Cake
California Chargrilled Turkey Sandwich
Pie In The Sky
Loaded Potato Skins
Catonese Chicken Salad
Name Your Own Burner
Fettucini Alfredo
Steak on a Stick Dinner
Carrot Cake
Mushrooms, Chicken and Mushrooms
Cajun An&els
French Dip
Baby Back Ribs
Fresh Vegetable Medley
Spicy Cajun Chicken Pasta
Finally, Christmas dishes that
makes you wish for leftovers.
But since we can’t provide weeks of leftovers,
we do have £ift certificates that make it easier to
come back for seconds.
| FRIDAYS
48th & O
467-4007
Sharing
Winder
Gift-giving
programs help
those in need
By Ted Taylor
Staff Reporter
Three holiday gift-giving pro
grams hope to make Christmas
morning a little more bountiful
this year for a number of Lincoln’s
underprivileged youth.
Radio stations KFORand KLIN
and Nebraska Bookstore are using
the holiday season as a chance to
lend a helping hand.
KFOR’s “Operation Santa
Claus” has been a Lincoln holiday
tradition since 1948, when it be
gan providing gifts to every or
phan in the city.
“The idea is to provide a brand
new gift for every underprivileged
child in Lincoln,” said Vicki
Marker, executive assistant at
KFOR and KFRX.
“It definitely gets a lot of atten
tion,” she said. “We’ve received
approximately $40,000 per year in
donations for the past few years.”
Marker said the children were
designated underprivileged by case
workers from social welfare agen
cies such as Lincoln Action Pro
gram, The Lincoln Indian Center,
Catholic Social Services and oth
ers.
“We only lake money dona
tions,” she said. “Then our staffers
go and buy the toys.”
National Guard volunteers take
on the role of Santa when they
gather and distribute the wrapped
gifts to the social services agen
cies.
The children all receive their
gifts in time for Christmas.
“We all just enjoy doing it,”
Marker said.
Taking a different gift-giving
approach, Nebraska Bookstore of
fers new books to area children.
“The Angel Tree” was, for the
second year in a row, unveiled the
day after Thanksgiving and is deco
rated with stars containing names
of more than 700 children — 400
more than last year.
Lana Austin, special events co
ordinator for Nebraska Bookstore,
likes the idea of giving books and
calls it a service to the community.
“By giving books, we are pro
moting literacy in the community,”
she said. “It’s an opportunity to
gi^e children books they might not
receive otherwise.”
Part-time bookstore employee
Trudy Marker also says the idea is
educational.
“Books have a way of opening
the imagination and teaching chil
dren things they wouldn’t ordi
narily learn through other re
sources,” she said.
The stars inform shoppers of a
child’s interests and hobbies and
what books they’d like to receive.
“By giving books, we are
promoting literacy in the
community, ” she said. “It’s
an opportunity to give
children books they might
not receive otherwise.”
LANA AUSTIN
Nebraska Bookstore special
events coordinator
s
“Anyone who wants to do it can
pick a star,” Austin said. “A lot of
the store employees do it, and a lot
of people do it to teach their own
children to give.”
KLIN radio station incorporates
a number of area businesses in its
“Giving Tree” program, now in its
fifth year.
Pamela Ingram, promotions co
ordinator for KLIN, s^id the Christ
mas event was something that all
the employees looked forward to.
“It gives everyone a real sense
of accomplishment.”
James Mehslinq/DN
“Giving trees” are put up in
more than 20 Lincoln locations.
All three Super Saver locations,
Super Kmart, Golden Carrot,
FirsTier Banks and Albertson’s
supermarket are among those in
volved.
“They provide the tree, we pro
vide the stars,” Ingram said.
The back of the star is labeled
with a gender and an age ranging
from two to 15. Shoppers take the
stars and purchase the gifts. They
are asked to return the unwrapped
gift back to that location.
Army National Guard volun
teer Sgt. Jim Blazek then goes
around to the locations collecting
the gifts for the Salvation Army
Toy Shop at 27th & Potter streets.
Parents can pick out toys to give to
their children on Christmas morn
ing.
Ingram said giving the parents
the opportunity to come to the
store and choose the gifts was
important.
“It really empowers the mother
and father to be able to actually
choose the toy for their child,”
Ingram said.
Making the holiday season what
it should be; a joyous time for all.
