2012 London Olympics Will Have a Little Touch of Venice-Mar Vista

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London will have a touch of Venice and Mar Vista.

The Mark Twain Middle School Bellringers  and a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Venice will be making the overseas trip for the summer games.

The Mark Twain bellringers were invited to perform at four venues at the 2012 Olympic games in August. The student musicians and school raised more than $100,000 for the trip with the help of Principal Rex Patton and Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

Rosendahl last week presented Patton and music director Ron Theile with certificates proclaiming them as ambassadors of the city during their trip.

Leslie Billinger, a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Venice, will be headed to London as one of 22 torchbearers selected by Coca-Cola to carry the Olympic Flame in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

Billinger, a Marina del Rey resident, has been a Coca-Cola senior shopper marketing manager and is co-chair of the Boys & Girls Club of Venice's annual fundraising event. She also developed the Coca-Cola Live Positivel Basketball Tournament that host more than 500 children and 28 Boys & Girls clubs.

Coca-Cola is a sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games and has been a supporter of the Olympics since 1928. The torchbearers will carry the flame in and around Oxford, Englang, from July 9-11 as it makes it way to the Opening Ceremony on July 27. Coca-Cola also has invited former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and former Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders to carry the torch along with 10 teenagers from across the United States.