Mickelson family hosts fourth annual Start Smart program

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SAN DIEGO -- They trooped in, hundreds of them, with parents or guardians or teachers, off the school busses, through the pre-dawn artificial light of the Murphy Canyon Wal-Mart, past Spiderman and SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer, past the big guy in the jeans and black shirt and the small woman in the blue dress, into their future. At least, that was the hope, giving them a future.

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Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, recently hosted their fourth annual Start Smart program.

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Mickelson's Start Smart

Between 5:30-9 Saturday morning 1,500 first- through fourth-graders from 25 schools across San Diego County arrived to shop for school clothes and supplies in the fourth annual Start Smart program hosted by Phil and Amy Mickelson. In four years over 5,000 kids from more than 90 schools have participated.

It's the same every year. By the end of their trip around the specially designed shopping route, the kids are hopping up and down, the parents are wiping away tears and Phil Mickelson is standing there staring and grinning.

"It's the looks on their faces," he said.

It's their stories, too.

The one about the woman who was sleeping in her car with her six children until child protective services took the kids to a shelter a few days ago. One of the boys wouldn't stop talking about his invitation to Start Smart. His teacher found the boy, prevailed on the social workers to cut the red tape and brought him to the store where he could shop for his family.

Or the one about the woman whose Marine husband had deployed to Iraq. Her older daughter, when told she had to share her clothes with a sister who had outgrown hers, was heartbroken. And then the Start Smart invitation came for both girls, and they shopped for more clothes than their mother dreamed they'd have anytime soon.

And this one, the one Manuel Aceves, a San Diego County Teacher of the Year 2007-2008 and now a California Teacher of the Year, and his wife, Andee, came to the Wal-Mart on their own to tell Phil Mickelson.

Last year Aceves' Spring Valley Elementary class was a part of Start Smart and he had them discuss the experience when class resumed the next week.

"There had been a sense of, 'We don't have to pay for lunch or for the school bus,' in class," Aceves said. To which he said, "Whoa. Somebody has to pay for your lunch and your bus and your new clothes." And he started talking about the concept of paying back.

"It was like a light went on in their eyes," he said.

So they brainstormed about how to pay something back, and to whom. The kids wanted to help other kids affected by the war in Iraq. Aceves found that Mickelson supports the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which grants colleges scholarships to children who have lost a Special Ops parent in battle or training. The kids bought into it. They started collecting recyclable bottles to raise money.

"We'd be out taking our walks and a kid would shout, 'I found a bottle!' hold it up like a trophy and carry it back to be recycled," said Aceves. "They really got into it." At the end of the drive they'd raised about $20, which they sent to the SOWF.

"They were happy with the effort and they learned something in the process," said Aceves.

Then the plaque of appreciation came from the SOWF.

"I'm telling you, it was like they won an Oscar," said Aceves. "They were really excited about getting back something they never expected. Right away they started thinking about their next project."

Mickelson's next projects are the Ryder Cup this week and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola the next. They're big. The next Start Smart is a year from now. "I can't wait," said Mickelson, grinning at the kids grinning at their stuff, unable to wait for Monday.