Some of the best programs we have are the craft talks of our newer members. Today we have two, Steve Pelletier and Mary Salcido, which were introduced by our president Imy Dulake. First up was Steve Pelletier. Steve was born in Butte Montana in 1953. He moved to Southern California when he was five years old, and attended schools in Covina and Anaheim until he finished high school.

Steve started university at UC Irvine as a chemistry major but determined later that the job possibility were  much better in chemical engineering, so he changed his major.

A short time ago the Pelletiers started a foundation to assist the children that had lost their parents in Guidong, China, a small farming community in the middle of China. The foundation pays the cost of a dormitory, buys books and supplies, and various other needs.

The foundation is named after a Flying Tiger pilot that was shot down in Guidong during the war between Japan and China, and after sixty  years was found and returned to the family.

Our next craft talk was from Mary Salcedo. Many think that she is Hispanic because she speaks the language, but she is 100% Caldean. Both of her parents were from Iraq. The family migrated from Iraq to Montreal , Canada , and then to Detroit Michigan.

Mary graduated from USC on a scholarship. She is married and has two daughter Angela and Jennifer.

Mary’s lifelong ambition is to be able to help those handicapped children in need. For the last twenty years she has gone into Mexico to find such children.