FAMILY RAISES $200,000 TO HELP OTHERS.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

If they gave out gold medals for heart, the Talbert family in Calabasas would sweep the victory stand.

Julie and Lloyd Talbert and their daughter, Samantha, started a nonprofit foundation last year, with the goal of raising $100,000 to disburse to charities helping kids with cancer, and to aid local families having a tough time paying off crippling medical bills.

Well, this Saturday, at the Talbert Family Foundation's first 5-10K run, the family will top $200,000 in donations.

``It started with Samantha raising the first $16,000 walking the L.A. Marathon last year,'' Julie said. ``She wrote a letter to everyone on our Christmas card list, her friends' parents, everyone we knew, telling them what we were trying to do.

``It just kept growing from there. Every dollar we raise goes directly to the charities. We don't take a dime.

``We started this foundation because we believe fitness and charity are integral parts to leading a fulfilling life, and should be lifetime commitments, not just one-time events,'' Julie said.

The funds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, City of Hope, and to the families of three local children who are battling leukemia.

If you're a runner or walker, it's not too late to sign up for the event, which kicks off at 8 a.m., with the 10K race following at 9 a.m.

The fee is $35 for either race, or $50 for both. There's also a one-mile kids and family run/walk at 10:30 a.m., with an entry fee of $15.

The races start at 23975 Park Sorrento, Calabasas. An awards ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. across the street at the Commons at Calabasas. Miss America 2005, Deidre Downs, will be there.

To help prepare for the race, a special carbo-load dinner will be served 6-7:30 tonight at Mi Piace Restaurant at the Commons. The cost is $15.

Another important charitable event this weekend is a fund-raiser for 11-month-old Hailey Cayo of Sherman Oaks, who underwent life-saving heart surgery when she was just 3 days old.

She's had two more heart surgeries, and numerous corrective surgeries since then and is now back in Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

``All the planning a young couple can do can never prepare them to get through something like this alone, not emotionally or financially,'' said Cheryl Appleman, Hailey's aunt.

So, Cheryl and her mother, Joan Rakley, are holding a fund-raiser to help Hailey's parents, Lori and Brian, pay the medical bills their insurance doesn't cover.

A $30 harbor cruise will be held 4:30-6:30 p.m. Saturday aboard the Shoreliner in Marina del Rey's Fisherman's Village.

For reservations and directions, call [phone].

The local chapter of Gold Star Wives of America Inc. asked me to pass along word that the deadline to file for widow's benefits from the government is Dec. 15.

``We're hoping to reach out one last time,'' said Ardyne Blackstone of Burbank, vice president of the Golden State chapter.

If you have ever been married to someone who died while serving on active duty - man or woman - or someone who died of a service-connected disability, you may be eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation that averages about $900 a month.

The catch is you can't be married now. There are other benefit categories, and Blackstone suggests all widows or widowers of active-duty soldiers, give her a call at [phone].

``We also want to reach out to any recent widows from our war in Iraq,'' she said. ``We feel it may be helpful to them, to talk to someone who has suffered the same loss.''

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who took the time Thursday to line the street along Laurel Canyon Boulevard for the Valley's first Veterans Day parade.

It meant a lot to the few hundred veterans in the parade from every service and war to see all those smiles, and flags waving at them.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com