At the Heart of Helping June Report

At the Heart of Helping - June 2021 Report

In This Issue:

Letter from the President/CEO | Save the Date | Parent Education Session

Scholarship Winners | New Board Officers

Food For Kids Donations | Kindness Opportunity | Thank You To Our Donors

Letter from the President/CEO

...At the Heart of Reflection and Hope

At the Volunteer Center, July 1 marks the

first day of our new fiscal year so we are full of hope for the year ahead.

As we look back and reflect on all the unimaginable difficulties that the COVID pandemic presented over the last twelve months, we are also filled with awe and gratitude for all of the ways that you generously showed up for our families and kept our programs going!

Highlights include:

We set a record and took in 15 TONS of food over the holidays, and distributed it to our network of local nonprofit partners and schools.

We partnered with County Supervisor Janice Hahn to deliver more than 2,500 meal vouchers, helping both hungry families and struggling community businesses.

We hosted Connect, our youth wellness program, giving two groups of local youth a chance to connect with peers and learn valuable coping tools. (Our third group starts July 6.)

We delivered 2,500 schoolbags filled with more than 50,000 educational and wellness items and 55 Zoom-based lessons to local low-income first graders.

We received major COVID-relief funding from partners including the Helen and Larry Hoag Foundation, L3Harris, Supervisor Janice Hahn and Los Angeles County, the Open Hearts Foundation, and the Shinnoy-en Foundation. These grants helped us combat economic losses so we could continue to feed families and increase empathy and volunteer service in our community.

As we plan for next year's programming, the list of schools and organization awaiting our help is still growing. Would you please consider joining our family of incredible monthly donors, to ensure that we can remain "at the heart of helping" where we are needed most?

As always, thank you for being "at the heart of helping!"

Sara Myers

President/CEO

Save the Date - April 30!

...At the Heart of Gathering Together for a Good Cause

Mark your calendars! We will be hosting our second Heart to Heart Gala on Saturday, April 30, 2022. We will be returning to the popular Crafted venue in San Pedro. We look forward to being back in person and celebrating with you!

Reminder! Free Parent Education Session July 8
...At the Heart of Parent Outreach

Next Thursday we are offering the third free parent class in our latest series. Participants have been very engaged with the topics and grateful for the advice and opportunity to speak with a mental health associate about their questions and concerns.

"I really enjoyed the last session, it helped me think about better ways to communicate with my teens."

"I was so impressed with the content and the presenter, after it was over I recommended the next one to all my friends and family."

Presenter Rachel Edwards, MA, APCC will offer:

Session 3: Decoding Teen Behavior

Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 7:00 pm PDT

Learn the science behind teen brain development.

To register, go to macygrimtherapy.com. Click "request appointment."
Enter your information, and in "messages" indicate which classes you'd like to join. You will receive an email containing your Zoom invitation.

Please help us spread the word!

Announcement: Durfee Scholarship Winners!
...At the Heart of Helping Local Students

We are so grateful to those students who submitted applications for our Scholarship Program. The committee was touched by your stories, empathy and resilience. We are proud to announce that the following students have won a Durfee Family Scholarship for the 2021-2022 school year:

Karen Canales of Phineas Banning High School will be attending University of California, San Diego.

Alyssa Curiel of Redondo Union High School will be attending University of Utah.

Elisha Porman of Redondo Union High School will be attending University of California, Los Angeles.

Rudy Retana of San Pedro High School will be attending California State University, Northridge.

Jada Widemond of North Torrance High School will be attending California State University, San Jose.

Fardin Zaman of North Torrance High School will be attending University of California, Riverside.

We wish all of these students the best with their upcoming endeavors!

Board of Directors - New Officers Elected

...At the Heart of Strong Leadership

On June 28, the Board of Directors elected new Officers to serve our organization. These talented individuals will serve in these positions for the next two years, working closely with the staff to continue making a measurable impact in our community.

Chair: Dianne Bozler

Immediate Past Chair: Brenda Montgomery Williams

Vice Chair: Kevin Morrow

Secretary: Paula Cox-Marshall

Treasurer: Heather Black Goyan

Fund Development: Renee Moilanen

Board members paid a surprise visit to outgoing Chair Brenda Williams with balloons and tokens of appreciation to thank her for her exceptional leadership during a difficult period in history. We are grateful for the strong foundation she helped create.

Grateful For Our Food For Kids Donors!
...At the Heart of Re-stocking Our Pantry

Thank you to all those who answered our special call for extra Food For Kids donations last month! This month we still need rice, beans, pasta and pasta sauce.

Dianne & Hans Bozler - 200 lbs

Carson Lions Club - 122.5 lbs

Christopher & Danielle Perry - 85.5lbs

Katie Cano & Jenny Peterson with the Sandpipers - 29 lbs

Kathy Smith - 17.5 lbs

Leslie Back with Hadassah Socal L'Dor V'Dor - 10 lbs

Liz Reinhardt - 12 lbs

Maureen Rubin - 34.5 lbs

Olivia Wong - 63.5 lbs

OPTUM - 98 lbs of Pediatric Formula

Sebastian & Victoria of the Torrance High Marching Band - 69 lbs

Valerie Tomoike with J.H. Hull Middle School & CJSF - 9 lbs

Anonymous Donors - 171.5 lbs

You can also find a link to our Amazon Wish List to have donations shipped directly to us!

Please also consider a Financial Gift to help us manage the program.

KINDNESS OPPORTUNITY

Donate Crayons and Cards for Children in Need
...At the Heart of Creative Kindness

As the stores begin to display all the Back to School supplies and promotions, please pick up a few extra boxes of

Crayola 16-count and/or 24-count crayons and drop them off at our Center Mon-Fri 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.. You can also email [email protected] to make arrangements for after hour donations. We are collecting these boxes of crayons for our Operation Teddy Bear program for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.

In addition, a great way to keep your young ones busy this summer is to ask them to create encouraging cards with drawings for our Food For Kids families. They can be slipped through our mailbox slot at 1230

Cravens Avenue, Torrance, 90501, anytime and we will review them and include them in the weekly bags of food for our families.

Ideas for phrasing you can use include:

You are amazing!

Have a great day!

Sending you big hugs!
You've got this!
Happy to help!
Let's create a world of kindness!

You're the best!

Keep smiling!

THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR

CORPORATE & FOUNDATION GRANTORS:

(Gifts Made in Support of July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021 Programs)

The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach

(310) 212-5009 | www.volcenter.org

Recognizing the value of empathy and service to others, the Volunteer Center has been "at the heart of helping" for more than 55 years. Our mission is to increase social and emotional wellness in youth and families in our community and we measure this impact through a rise in empathy and resilience for those we serve. To learn more about our programs and history, visit www.volcenter.org.