Illusionist Criss Angel Gives Support To Three Local Families

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Three local families were pleasantly surprised at the Junior Livestock Show and 4-H Festival last week by some very generous support from an unexpected source.

Just before the All Stars concert on Friday night at the Logandale Fairgrounds, a special guest was introduced to an expectant crowd. It was celebrity illusionist Criss Angel whose well-known MindFreak show at Planet Hollywood has taken Las Vegas by storm.

Angel began by introducing his family who he had brought with him to the stage. These included his wife Shaunyl; his 7-year-old son, Johnny Crisstopher; and his 2-year-old son, Xristos Yanni.

Angel told the crowd that his family had gone through difficulty over the past several years. Johnny Crisstopher was diagnosed with pediatric cancer at the age of two, and had been undergoing a long treatment process.

Because of this difficult experience, Angel said that his family had established the Johnny Crisstopher Childrens’ Charitable Foundation designed to help other families who are going through similar trials.
He then called three different area residents to the stage including Raynie Clark who is recovering from leukemia; KaeLyne Pendleton who is battling with breast cancer; and Colt Talbot whose father passed away recently leaving a young family behind.

Angel presented each of the three with a check for $5,000 to help the families in their current struggles.
“We are not here to celebrate the heartache, but we are here to celebrate life,” Angel said. “Every moment that we have is a gift and we can never take that for granted.”

In an interview with The Progress, Angel talked about how his family had recently stumbled upon the Moapa Valley community and had immediately felt at home with its small-town feel. He related that Johnny Crisstopher had gotten a dirtbike as a Christmas present and it was his wish to ride it out in the desert.

“The question was: Where to bring him?” Angel said. “Somehow we heard about Logandale Trails area and we brought him out here one day. That has been the most amazing blessing from God. The whole community just blew my mind. Everyone is so welcoming and it is so comfortable here. It is just a breath of fresh air. It is a whole different world, at only 45 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip.”

Within a few days of that first visit, Angel was shopping the area for real estate to purchase. Soon he had bought a large parcel of land on the west of Logandale. Angel said that he sees tremendous potential for what might be done to help others on this land.

“I just started thinking about my son and how much he loved this place,” Angel said. “And that led to the thought of what a great opportunity there is to do something special here. To help other families going through similar struggles.”

In his announcement on Friday night, Angel alluded to these plans and he also referenced other ideas in the works that are under negotiation with Judy and Sugar Metz, owners of Sugar’s Restaurant in Overton.

The Metzes have had the downtown Overton restaurant listed on the market for several years now.
But Angel stopped short of revealing details since much of those ideas are still in the planning stage.

“We really want to do some amazing things in this community,” Angel told the crowd. “We want to try to do outreach programs here. We are going to talk a lot more about things that we are working on in Logandale; and also that we are working on over at Sugar’s. We will have some exciting news to tell you soon.”