Crooked I and Glasses Malone Step Up for Operation Secret Santa

by yudig973 Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:05 pm

The holidays will be a lot more pleasant for hospitalized California youth, as rappers Crooked I and Glasses Malone take time out to participate in the eighth annual YouthScore Inc. Operation Secret Santa project.

The event will take place today (December 20) at St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach, California.

Malone and Crooked I will be among a group of celebrities aligning with teens to distribute toys to kids spending the holiday season in the children’s hospital.

YouthScore’s dedication towards making life better for Long Beach youth serves as a major reason for Crooked I’s involvement with the program.

"YouthScore is one of the few program's that has always been active in caring about the youth in Long Beach having positive and creative opportunities to express themselves, so I've always supported them because their cause is a focused on out community," said Crooked I, who has championed YouthScore for five years.

The Secret Santa Project is one of a series of efforts initiated by YouthScore Inc., an organization known for providing opportunities for at-risk youth by supporting and nurturing their natural gifts while creating usable job skills.

Since its inception more than eight years ago, YouthScore has contributed goods and/or services to its projects through its alliance with Long Beach County supervisor Don Kanabe, and the Long Beach Fire Department.

The organization has successfully given out more than 500 individuals toys through donations from local organizations such as Albertson's, Los Angeles Midnite Mission, Food Finders, Ralphs, K-Mart, Pepsi and others.

In addition to Crooked I, the program has worked with numerous entertainers that include Goodie Mob, Warren G, Xzibit, Ahmad, Ghostface and Cappadonna, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Kel Mitchell, Pink, Kobe Bryant and more.

Rapper Jayo Felony, Hip-Hop producer Soopafly and actor Kel Mitchell will also take part in this year's group of celebrity Operation Secret Santa volunteers.

Representatives from LRT Music Group and Ballyhoo Public Relations will also be on hand for the event.