The news doesn't fall far from the TV

Lisa Van Cise and Tim Lewis knew what they were getting into when they picked broadcast news careers. Their fathers are top television news staff members in the Seattle area.

Lewis, the weekend sports anchor for KIMA-TV (CBS) in Yakima, is a Woodinville High School graduate and the 24-year-old son of KOMO-TV (ABC) news anchor Dan Lewis. (Dan and his wife, Jenn, now live in Sammamish.)

Van Cise, 22, is from Issaquah and also works for KIMA-TV. She's a Skyline High School graduate and the daughter of KIRO-TV's (CBS) morning weather forecaster, Rick Van Cise.

"Lisa is a news reporter and on weekends she does weather," Rick Van Cise said.

She's not the only Van Cise offspring working in communications. Christopher Van Cise, 19, attends Central Washington University, where he's training to be a pilot while working part time at an Ellensburg radio station.

"I'm proud to have such talented kids," Rick Van Cise said.

Dan Lewis expressed the same pride. Tim is the only one of his three children to go into broadcasting.

"Who knows, maybe someday he and I will sit at the anchor desk together," he said. "Now that would be fun!"

Game power

Thanks to several readers, the kids at Avondale Park will soon have a second Xbox.

One of two donated video games recently walked away from the Redmond transitional housing facility for homeless families. The lineup to play the games — there are 67 kids in the complex — was always long.

Kim Loveall Price, the executive director for Springboard Alliance, which oversees the center, said kind people are donating an Xbox, an assortment of new games and extra controllers.

She's delighted because several men who called agreed to volunteer and help the kids with the games.

"Many of these kids don't have a positive male role model," she said. "This will make a big difference in the kids' lives."

Camera crew

Picture-taking Mercer Island couple Nancy and Steve Ross reported another win in their ongoing photo contests. Nancy has been a photographer for more than a decade; Steve, a Web developer, began shooting pictures only in the last couple of years. I wrote about the couple in March, when they were both semifinalists in another contest.

One of Steve's photos placed in the 2005 Alaska Airlines photo contest. Nancy's entry didn't win.

While Nancy is thrilled for Steve, there's a bit of irony with this particular contest win.

Her prize in the same Alaska Airlines' contest a year ago was a trip for two to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. While there, Steve used Nancy's camera and snapped this year's winner.

"That will teach me to bring along the competition and let him borrow my camera," Nancy said.

Anniversary pint

Scott Leopold celebrated the one-year anniversary of his triple-heart-bypass surgery Wednesday by rolling up his sleeve and donating blood. You never know who will need it, he said.

Leopold has been a longtime supporter of the Puget Sound Blood Center. He has spent years encouraging his co-workers at Microsoft to donate blood. After receiving two units of blood during his surgery, he's an even bigger supporter.

"Little did I realize that I was the one who would eventually need the blood," he said. "I was always thinking it was for someone else. Silly me."

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com