By Antonio Perez KNBSTV staff writer.

Billionaire Donald T. Sterling held his annual Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation Summit on Tue evening 12/29/2009 at the Sterling World Plaza in Beverly Hills, Ca. He personally handed out, with the help of his wife Shelly Sterling, one million dollars from his private charitable foundation to 10 high schools in South and East Los Angeles including Roosevelt, Garfield and Jefferson high schools among others and 20 different charities across Los Angeles county including the Salvation Army, Red Cross, NAACP, among others.

The different charities and high school representatives were greeted at the Sterling Plaza in a red carpet setting and interviewed by a live television crew at the Lobby. Guests were escorted to the Penthouse floor where a fun festive party atmosphere was kept alive by a mobile DJ. Hors D’oeuvres were being served throughout the evening as specialty photos where being taken in front of a green chroma-key canvas where guests were then treated to an immediate printout of the photo just taken with a beautiful snowed in forest background superimposed by computer technology.

Mr. Sterling took the stage and with his charming personality, introduced his goals, his charity organizations and all of the recipients. He praised Blake Griffin, NBA’s top draft pick, and announced he will be playing soon as soon as he recovers. Blake was very pleased to be a part of the event and even helped introduce Hispanic recipients in Spanish.

Mr. Sterling announced that he grew up in Boyle Heights and attended Roosevelt High School. He recognized Mr. Jaime Escalante’s work in Garfield where he taught calculus to students where it was believed to be nearly impossible. Mr. Sterling emphasized the importance of having an education and it being the key to a successful life and family. He believes many underprivileged kids don’t have a chance, but he strongly believes in making a difference and puts his money where his mouth is.

Surprisingly, La Times Reporter Sandy Banks, was there not to report on such a worthy cause, but to try to find fault or disparage the Sterling name or its organizations. To give so generously to so many people and to help so many in need is such a wonderful thing especially in these bad economic times. For Sandy Banks to focus on a flaw finding mission at this event is ludicrous. She was very quick to report, on her 1/3/2010 La Times report, all the typos and name mispronunciations, that she lost the complete focus of the event which is “to help people.” Let us give Ms. Banks a few glasses of wine and then put her on stage to see how many names she gets right. I hope she is up for the challenge. Even without wine, she misinterpreted the true intentions of the charity’s event. I’d hate to see what she does when she does have wine. I hope Sandy Banks realizes this is not the right forum to go on a witch hunt. When it comes to her timing only three words come to mind; “get a clue”.

After all of the checks were presented to the several different recipients, the evening was filled with music and dancing. A lot of happy and grateful faces were seen throughout the event. Congratulations to Mr. Donald T. Sterling, Shelly Sterling and the Sterling Charitable Foundation. You are such a generous couple and thank you for helping so many in need. See you again next year. Keep up the good work!

By Antonio Perez