American Idol’s country music star and former U.S. Marine, Josh Gracin shows his support for Toys for Tots with fellow U.S. Marines. From left to right: Corporal Timothy C. Lewis, Sergeant Viviene B. Sussman, Josh Gracin, Sergeant Suzanne A. Thiele and Staff Sergeant Michael G. Miller. December 26, 2008 (San Diego) — American Idol favorite and country music chart topper

By Miriam Raftery Aneesha Silvels President-elect Barack Obama has called for a major expansion of the Peace Corps and other public service programs, adding, “This will be a cause of my presidency.”  Obama’s plan aims to double the size of the Peace Corps from 7,800 to 16,000 volunteers by the organization’s 50th anniversary in 2012.   “JFK made their service a

December 18, 2008 (Ramona) — Local firefighters and sheriff officers presented 24 lucky children with bicycles for the holidays at Ramona’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on December 13th. “Kelly Marline Crime Prevention Specialist with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and Audine Morytko with the Ramona Fire Department worked extremely hard coordinating this extremely important event,” Captain Nick Schuler

December 16, 2008 (San Carlos) — On December 24th  at 2 p.m. Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Carlos will continue its tradition of holiday season generosity by providing bags of goodies on Christmas Eve for area Fire and Police Departments, as well as Hospital Emergency Rooms.  The organization seeks donations to help local community service heroes and their families serving