By DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / January 6, 1999

Theirs is a serious business. But they don’t mind clowning around to get itdone.

And they know how to throw a party.

Just before the holidays Shriners hosted a Christmas party for 180 children from southeast Louisiana who are currently being treated at the Shriners’ Hospital in Shreveport and its Burn Institute in Galveston, Texas.

Shriner Jim Busby of the Jerusalem Temple in Destrehan, home to more than 1,800 New Orleans-area Shriners, said local donors play a big part in the success of the annual party.

This year Boomtown Casino donated Santa Claus hats for all attending, and Rite-Aid contributed loads of Christmas goodies to bag up and distribute to young patients.

But the biggest treat of all was the arrival of Santa, who roared into the Temple aboard one of the Shriners’ signature mini-cars amid the blaring of sirens and a band playing “Here Comes Santa Claus.”After a visit with Santa, Shriner clowns walked children through a “Winter Wonderland” where they could choose from a myriad of gifts suitable for different age groups. Each child could select two or threegifts.

“We deal with kids from all walks of life,” said Busby. “The lower theincome, the more help they need. This is the only Christmas some of themwill get.”Eight-year-old Mylangel Willingham and her brother, Jasmine, 10, were burned in a house fire in Avondale in 1991. Since then they’ve beentransported to Galveston by the Shriners numerous times for surgery to repair the ravages of the burns on their faces and other areas of their bodies. Shriners pay for all their treatment, lodging and transportation. “The Shriners are good – I like them,” said Jasmine. “It used to scare me,but not anymore.”Kayla Macaluso, 10, has been treated for juvenile arthritis at the Shriners’ Orthopedic Center in Shreveport for the past five years.

“She loves it there,” said her mother Gwen. “She keeps a scrapbook ofeverything she does with the Shriners.”And this year, like every year, the Shriners dress up in funny hats and clown costumes to make life a little easier on these young patients, agreeing that bringing a smile to a small face is the best Christmas present of all.

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