TO THOSE WHO MADE THE YEAR HAPPY.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

It's a big part of who we are - these traditional words we say to neighbors and strangers alike today: ``Happy New Year.''

The truth is, any new year wouldn't be happy for a lot of people if not for the efforts of some special individuals and groups in the San Fernando Valley who helped make the old year happier for them.

Their stories took the sprawling Valley down to community size - made neighborhoods a lot warmer, richer and friendlier places. And in these dicey times, that's no easy feat.

We met some of them in this space last year, and I wish I could put in a conference call for you so we could all wish them a Happy New Year. The best I can do is to recognize a few of them again in print to say thank you.

Age doesn't make a difference when you're trying to make a new year happy.

It runs the gamut - from 106-year-old Claire Klint, still teaching Sunday school at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, to 11-year-old Jordyn Carey, who spent her weekends selling lemonade at a stand in front of her grandma's house to raise money to buy a bulletproof vest for King, the San Fernando Police Department's only K-9 dog.

A happy new year is Carolyn Blashek starting ``Operation Gratitude'' out of her Encino living room to send care packages to soldiers overseas who were not receiving any mail from home. At last count, more than 200 volunteers had joined her - sending 7,100 packages to GIs who now hear their names at mail call.

It's Ed and Carolyn Rose, who opened their garage door 25 years ago every Saturday to hand out second-hand furniture and clothes they collected to neighbors who had fallen on hard times. Today, that garage operation has grown to become MEND - Meet Each Need with Dignity - the largest anti-poverty agency in the Valley, serving more than 35,000 people every month.

It's 85-year-old Harry Vickman and 95-year-old Lillian Brill getting up every morning to put in 40-hour weeks as volunteers at ONEgeneration in Van Nuys because they believe so deeply in the important work this popular nonprofit agency does for healthy aging and early childhood development.

It's the Herczak and Rivera families over on Rhodes Avenue in North Hollywood, who illuminated an old Christmas star atop a 70-foot-high evergreen in their front yard, rekindling a holiday tradition in their neighborhood for another generation of kids.

It's Arturo Herrera, a young man who lost his legs to a drunk driver, spending most mornings traveling through the Valley in his wheelchair to plant flowers where weeds grow.

A happy new year is World War II vet Bert Dorosy of the Chatsworth- Woodland Hills VFW post, and ex-POWs Martin Christie and Dusty Worthen, who visit schools to keep alive the real meaning of Veterans and Memorial days.

It's dedicated service groups - like the Elks, Moose, Optimists, and Rotary clubs, along with the VFW and American Legion posts - making sure the vets spending their final days in Building 99 at the Sepulveda VA always have someone visiting them.

It's our local vets at the North Hills VA facility once again taking home the lion's share of medals in the Golden Age Games competition against all the VA facilities in the country. And it's the Veteran's Advisory Board at Sepulveda fighting to keep needed services there.

A happy new year is the staff and volunteers at the Fulfillment Fund, which mentors disabled and disadvantaged kids and has made it possible for more than 30,000 of them to go to college, and then get help with their careers.

It's David Kaye and all the volunteers at the B'Nai B'rith Food Bank in Northridge, who find out from local school principals which students need a little help with clothing and food. Kaye makes sure their families get it.

It's kids like Boy Scout Jonathon Lawes, who gave a proper burial to hundreds of worn, old American flags collected from Valley residents who didn't know what to do with them.

It's the staff and volunteers at Tierra del Sol, Haven Hills, Guide Dogs of America, Tri-Valley Special Olympics, Anti-Defamation League, Independent Living Center, New Horizons and all the other great, local nonprofit organizations.

It's Big Ed Rasky, pushing 80, still running the L.A. Marathon every year for cancer kids, and the ARC Bellringers - a chorus of developmentally disabled adults - being the hottest holiday entertainment ticket in town.

And, finally, it's you - the readers who respond when thieves steal from special ed school kids, or take the car of a young mother with two Down syndrome sons.

It's you calling or writing to see how two dedicated LAPD police officers from Van Nuys are doing in their efforts to start a college fund for the Lopez sisters, ages 9 and 4, who witnessed the murder-suicide of their parents.

It's good people with warm stories that reach out and grab your heart - make you cry, smile or just shake your head in amazement.

That's what makes a new year happy.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com