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 Letter from the President/CEO
...At the Heart of Expressing Our Gratitude
As we enter the season of giving, I want to take a moment to thank you for your support this past year.
Reflecting on 2017, I am so impressed by how your volunteer hours and donations have helped our community! You fed hungry families, provided literacy tools to low-income children, gave thank you packages and cards to first responders, cheered on Special Olympics athletes, gifted socks to the homeless, planted gardens for schools, presented scholarships to college-bound volunteers, inspired teens to spend their summer serving others, not to mention the thousands of other benefits you provided to our hundreds of nonprofit partners. None of it would have been possible without the support and encouragement of everyone in our Volunteer Center family. We're truly grateful to be on this journey with you and inspired by how many of you dedicate your time and donations to making the world around us a better place.
I know many of you have begun planning for your year-end giving, and on behalf of everyone on the Volunteer Center team, we hope you will once again
consider a donation toward our continued mission to solve critical community needs through volunteerism. In fact, you can double your gift on Giving Tuesday thanks to the generosity of Facebook and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation! (
See details on doubling your gift in the article directly below.)
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being "at the heart of helping" this season and beyond!
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Tis the Season to Celebrate Giving
...At the Heart of Giving Back and Paying Forward
Join us on Facebook on Giving Tuesday (next Tuesday, November 28) and throughout the season to celebrate giving!
Click here
to learn how you can help us celebrate and share how or why you:
- Give your time as a volunteer
- Give back to the community
- Give people opportunities to learn and grow
- Give food and educational supplies to those in need
- Give monetary support to the charity of your choice
Plus, Facebook and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are matching all contributions* made through the Facebook donation platform on Giving Tuesday. So if you decide to celebrate that day by giving a donation using the button on our Facebook page, your impact will be doubled!
*Matching pledge of $2 million total; up to $50,000 per nonprofit or $1,000 per fundraiser/donate button.
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Celebrating Our Escape Room Fundraiser
...At the Heart of Creative Fundraising & Competitive Team-Building
Our Board of Directors took a huge leap of faith this past year when we presented a plan to create a first-of-its-kind fundraiser, and we are proud to report that this endeavor was a huge success! South Bay Escape Room: Mortuary Mystery offered more than 300 guests of all ages - from teenagers to "Senior Sleuths" - the opportunity to test their luck while supporting our programs and services, including some very competitive team-building sessions for enthusiastic participants (
click here
to see all the participant photos).
At a recent reception, we celebrated the volunteers, sponsors and supporters who helped turn our Escape Room into a reality, and we presented a little insight into the nine months it took to plan, build and run this project. In addition, we shared our plans to make some updates and hopefully reopen the Escape Room in the near future for those who didn't get to play! Stay tuned for updates as they unfold, and if you are interested in volunteering to conduct sessions and help participants as they navigate the puzzles in the room,
click here to "express interest."
Finally, we once again want to thank our generous sponsors and team of volunteers who made this fundraiser possible, including
Bank of America;
Griswold & Griswold Insurance Agency, Inc.;
Shirley Starke-Wallace;
Vernon B. Williams, MD, Inc., Sports Neurologist;
Beth and Steve Wilson;
AskBrad;
Kentwood Players; and
Sherwin-Williams (
see a complete list here). We also extend our gratitude to the companies who generously supported the reception, including
DoubleTree by Hilton Torrance-South Bay,
Luna Grill and
Mimi's Café.
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The Giving Continues with Operation Teddy Bear
...At the Heart of Enhanced Literacy and Learning
Operation Teddy Bear 17-18 has begun and we're off to a great start! Hard-working volunteers from the Affinity Group, Beacon House, John Deere, Keenan, Kinecta, Manhattan Beach Rotary Club, MOOG, South Bay Association of Realtors, South Bay Junior Women's Club, South Bay Touring A's, a group of LMU Alumni, and the Volunteer Center team helped pack more than 4,000 schoolbags and teacher appreciation kits, and then delivered them to the schools in anticipation of distribution and reading. Click here to see a video taped live at "packing central" as the volunteers from John Deere were hard at work - we couldn't have done it without ALL of the amazing volunteers who joined us!
Thanks to generous grants from The Molina Foundation and the Rudolph J. and Daphne A. Munzer Foundation, this year's Operation Teddy Bear schoolbags include more quality non-fiction reading books and writing journals. The teachers specifically requested these items to help their students meet the new common-core standards, with an emphasis on increasing access to science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) materials; provide additional reading comprehension practice; and encourage creativity. We are thrilled to grant the teachers' wishes this holiday season!
We are extremely grateful to our major sponsors and in-kind donors for making this program a reality, including the Affinity Group, Battle Creek Community Foundation, John Deere Foundation, Francine Dominique and the late Jim Gamble, Kinecta, Manhattan Beach Rotary Club, Molina Foundation, MOOG, Rudolph J. and Daphne A. Munzer Foundation, Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, QuinStar Technology, Saatchi & Saatchi, South Bay Association of Realtors, South Bay Junior Women's Club, Torrance Refining Company, U-Haul Moving & Storage of Carson, Valero Energy Foundation, Watson Land Company and Carl E. Wynn Foundation. We also extend our appreciation to Bank of America; Roseanney Liu of Scorpius and Write on, Roseanney; Malaga Bank; and everyone who contributed to our Teacher Appreciation Drive!
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Thanks for Giving to Food For Kids
...At the Heart of Stocking Our Pantry Shelves
Special thanks to the Old Torrance Neighborhood Association; DoubleTree by Hilton Torrance-South Bay; Erika Edwards of E3 Real Estate; Alpha Phi Omega at California State University, Long Beach; and students at Dapplegray and Riviera Elementary Schools for their recent support of our Food For Kids program!
- As a part of their annual Taste of Old Torrance event, the Old Torrance Neighborhood Association (OTNA) asked each guest to bring non-perishable food in addition to the cost to attend. They collected approximately 300 pounds of food and donated the event's proceeds, totaling approximately $750, to Food For Kids!
- The DoubleTree by Hilton Torrance-South Bay selected our Food for Kids program as the beneficiary of their fall service project, and employees collected 137 pounds of food through the food drive!
- Erika Edwards of E3 Real Estate collects donations for Food For Kids each month. Her latest donation contained 278.5 pounds of food!
- Members of Alpha Phi Omega at CSULB donated 42 pre-packed bags of food, decorated the bags, and included cards in each bag featuring original artwork!
- Cub Scout Pack 166 and multiple Girl Scout Troops from Dapplegray Elementary School in Rolling Hills Estates donated more than 1,100 pounds of food to our food pantry!
- Riviera Elementary School in Torrance donated approximately 1,750 pounds of food collected during the school's recent food drive!
We accept donations at our main office in Torrance Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. You can also bring donations to our booth at the Wilson Park Farmer's Market twice a month (see the calendar of upcoming events on our homepage for specific dates each month). Click here to review our Non-Perishable Food Shopping List. |
Giving Back While Shopping This Season & Beyond
...At the Heart of Enhancing Your Support Easily
Many of us love how easy Amazon makes shopping for the things we need. Did you know they also make it easy to support a favorite cause just by shopping with them? Use the special AmazonSmile URL every time you shop on Amazon and you will automatically support your selected charitable organization, at no cost to you!
There are a few ways to ensure the Volunteer Center receives a percentage of your purchase on eligible items through AmazonSmile, whether it's for holiday gifts or everyday needs:
- Select "Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach" as the beneficiary for your AmazonSmile account, and then navigate to smile.amazon.com whenever you begin shopping on Amazon!
- On your first visit to smile.amazon.com, you will search for and select a charitable organization to support.
- To change your charity, sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser and select "Change your Charity" under "Your Account."
- Navigate to this specific URL each time you shop: smile.amazon.com/ch/95-2301600
- Using the Chrome browser? Add the AmazonSmile 1Button for Chrome to your browser to make it easier to shop and give back!
Want to shop, celebrate and support locally?
The National Charity League is hosting a Ladies Night and Holiday Shopping Event at Waterleaf (1210 Morningside Drive in Manhattan Beach) on Thursday, November 30 between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. Stop by for shopping, holiday cheer and light refreshments - 15% of all sales that evening will be donated to Food For Kids!
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Volunteer Opportunities Available 24/7!
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Looking for volunteers?
Click here to learn about becoming a Partner!
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THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR SPONSORS:
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The Volunteer Center
South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach
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The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach recognizes the valuable role volunteers play in our society and has been "at the heart of helping" for more than 50 years. Volunteers are recruited and referred to more than 400 nonprofit organizations in its service area of 44 cities, as well as for their own signature programs: Operation Teddy Bear and Food For Kids.
By contacting the Volunteer Center, potential volunteers can obtain information and connect with just the right service experience, fulfilling its mission of "mobilizing people and resources to deliver creative solutions to community needs." Learn more at www.volcenter.org.
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