ROTARIANS AND THEIR FANS ARE REALLY COOL.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

In the hubbub of high profile, official city business, it would be easy to overlook the special award the Granada Hills Chapter of Rotary International will receive today at the Los Angeles City Council meeting.

That would be a shame, because the award Councilman Hal Bernson is presenting to these Rotarians just may be the most important item on the agenda.

To understand why, you have to go back to an air-conditioned room in the Porter Valley Country Club where the Granada Hills Rotary Club met at noon on a recent Thursday.

Outside, the temperature was climbing toward 110, with no break in the heat in sight. Inside, it was as comfortable as a cool, spring day.

A couple of members were talking about the death toll from the long heat wave in Texas, especially among the elderly with no cooling units in their apartments.

One of the members said he was told by one of Bernson's staff members that there were elderly residents and shut-ins in the Valley facing the same problem. They either can't afford to run their air conditioners or don't have any.

Within minutes, in a unanimous vote, the Rotarians assessed themselves an additional $1,000 in dues to go out and buy fans.

A day later, 67 fans were delivered to the Wilkinson Senior Citizen Center in Northridge, where recreation director Jill Kaplan called a meeting of Meals On Wheels drivers, who deliver food to elderly shut-ins, and case managers for homebound seniors.

An hour later, the fans were being delivered to North Valley seniors who had no cooling systems in their apartments.

``It had to be 110 degrees outside the day we delivered the fans to them,'' Kaplan said. ``They were so grateful, all of them.''

Seniors like Sarah Denk over in Canoga Park, Helen and Morris Reingold in North Hills and Jean Martz in Granada Hills.

They were among homebound seniors who wrote to let the Rotarians know how important these fans were to them as they tried to ride out a heat wave in apartments with no air conditioning.

And that's why to 67 seniors in the North Valley, looking at another heat wave moving in this weekend, there isn't any more important item on the Los Angeles City Council agenda today than the award for the Granada Hills Rotary Club.

The overwhelming public response from people wanting to help Deb McNamara pay off the veterinary bills she incurred in saving the life of a little stray puppy, after it was hit by a car, has created a pleasant dilemma for the pet hospital where surgery was performed on the dog.

California Animal Hospital has received more in donations than McNamara owed on the bill.

``We have received hundreds of calls and letters, and the total amount of donations has far exceeded the $3,000 she owed,'' said Dr. Scott Anderson, who performed the operations on the puppy, Maya.

Anderson said the hospital will pass on the surplus money to pet-rescue foundations, including Actors and Others, Mercy Crusade, Amanda Foundation, PAWS and the Pet Adoption Fund.

``You can be assured that, by passing along all of the excess donations to these groups, hundreds of dogs and cats will benefit,'' Anderson said.

If any giver does not want a donation for McNamara to go to a pet fund, contact pet hospital workers at [phone], and they will return your check.

Another sidelight to the Maya story comes from the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross. It turns out the young man who stabilized the injured puppy and strapped it to a firm board - to avoid further injury while it was transported to the vet hospital - is a volunteer instructor of pet first-aid classes for the Red Cross.

Craig Jones lives on the same block as McNamara in Van Nuys. Anyone interested in taking pet first-aid classes can contact the Red Cross at [phone]. There is a $25 charge, and the next local class is scheduled for 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 16 (a Wednesday) at the Fallbrook Mall in West Hills.

And finally, Hamer Toyota in Mission Hills received a surprise visit Thursday from a team of 9-year-old all-stars who had just returned from Orlando, Fla., where they finished second in the nation in a national AAU tournament. They lost 4-3 in a heartbreaking championship game against a team from Central Florida.

The Renegades, a baseball team of boys from the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, just wanted to thank Bud Brown and his staff over at Hamer for chipping in and buying them new uniforms to wear in the national tourney.

Team members are Tony Armendariz, B.J. Brown, Paul Dobson, Mason Feldman, Christopher Kingsbury, Kyle McAtee, Blake McMartin, Aaron Mizak, Mikey Moustakas and Patrick Sarkissian.

Congratulations, boys.