Charities

Once a month, Lou Burrola and many of his co-workers indulge themselves in a workplace treat--and we're not talking about that insidious microwave popcorn, the Pied Piper of office workers everywhere. For a donation to a charity chosen by an employee committee, Burrola and his colleagues get a casual-dress day.

Who'd pay $10 for a used lightbulb? Disneyland is aiming to find out with a charity fund-raiser connected to the Main Street Electrical Parade, which is set to flicker out this fall after 25 seasons. Rather than scrap the half-million-plus lightbulbs on the parade floats, Disneyland brass came up with the bright idea of hawking them to raise money for local children's causes. Disneyland President Paul Pressler is expected to announce the fund-raiser tonight at the park, just prior to the 8:45 p.

They sure didn't look like peace officers. With their leather vests, tattooed arms, tie-dyed tank tops and faded jeans, they could have easily been mistaken for a roving gang of bikers weaving their way through the streets of the Santa Clarita Valley. In fact, many of the more than 300 motorcyclists who turned out Sunday for the first "Downed Officers Support Ride" were peace officers, and they raised nearly $5,000 to benefit families of slain peace officers.

After four years of plummeting contributions, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles announced Tuesday that it had raised more money in its latest fund drive than it did last year. The nonprofit organization, which helps fund more than 250 health and human services providers, received $58 million during its 1995-96 drive, an increase of $1 million over last year. This year's total, however, remains well below the organization's high of $91 million in 1989-90.

Music-industry veteran Stan Sheppard expected some resistance when he started recruiting artists for his fledgling record label. The reason: They would be required to donate 10% of their royalties to charitable projects. To his surprise, however, the response from the performers has been overwhelmingly positive.

House Republicans introduced a sweeping plan Tuesday to address urban blight by easing restrictions on religious organizations operating in poor communities and providing new tax breaks for Americans who support "faith-based" charities engaged in such efforts. "If you don't start with a faith-based approach, you aren't starting," said House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), giving the proposal the GOP leadership's stamp of approval.

This morning volunteers at First Christian Church will pack about 200 children's wheelchairs into a tractor-trailer truck bound for Iowa, where they'll be refurbished and then sent around the world. For disabled children in developing countries such as Vietnam, Romania and Guatemala, whose lives have been limited to sitting or crawling, the chairs will offer a first chance to get around on their own. The children's liberator is Studio City resident David Richard.

In the corner of a Simi Valley warehouse sit rows of small children's wheelchairs, close to 200 of them. Battered and weathered, they will be packed into a tractor-trailer Saturday and shipped to Iowa, where they will be spiffed up and sent around the world--to Vietnam, to Romania and to Guatemala. For disabled children in those developing countries, whose lives have been limited to sitting or crawling, the wheelchairs will offer a first chance to get around on their own.

If a charity sells a donated item worth more than $50,000 within two years of receiving it, the charity is required to file a report with the IRS. Cars, for example, are usually sold by a charity almost immediately. If the donor deducts more than the cash the charity received in the sale, the IRS may investigate. It is possible that the item fell in value and the donor is justified. However, if the deduction is padded, this process could telegraph cheating ways.

The central parties in the bitter fight over the $1.2-billion estate of Doris Duke announced Wednesday that they have reached a settlement that finally could send the tobacco heiress' fortune to charity more than two years after her death. Under the agreement, the controversial executor named in Duke's last will--her former butler, Bernard Lafferty--would relinquish any role in administering the estate or the new Doris Duke Charitable Foundation but still would get a $4.