Our Fall
Fundraiser
was fun and
well-attended
Families
returned for
follow-up
health
screenings
Back to
School Event
focused on
community
resources
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
Community’
s
CHILD
PAGE 3
IN THIS ISSUE:
HUNGER HERO CARNIVAL + THANKSGIVING + CHRISTMAS
MISSION STATEMENT
“Transitioning homeless and disadvantaged
women and children into valued and
contributing members of the community.”
SPRING
2016
Building Hope Resident’s Update:
“I feel safe now and have hope in my heart”
M
y name is January and I am the mother of three beautiful children:
Alex, 11, Liliana, 10 and Sunny, 4. I am so very grateful to Community’s Child for giving my children and me a safe and beautiful place
to live, and for offering us so many opportunities for growth.
I was accepted into Community’s
Child’s shelter program at one of the
most challenging times of my life. I had
achieved 18 months of sobriety, which
was very exciting, but at the same time,
I was timing out of a sober living program for women with children and I
had no place to go. Facing homelessness was terrifying.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

July 11, 2016 – Feed the Children

Aug. 8, 2016 — Back to School Event

Sep. 24, 2016 — Denim & Diamonds
in Paradise, Annual Fundraiser
Board of Directors:
Like all of the women who enter into
Community’s Child shelter program, I
too have had to overcome hardship and
devastating emotional traumas in my
past. My mom died when I was 7 and
since my dad was nowhere to be found,
I had nobody to take care of me and
give me stability. At first, I was able to January surrounded by Liliana, Sunny and Alex .
stay with my elderly grandmother, but her senior housing program soon told her that
no children were allowed and I had to move out. Being forced to leave her and the
only place where I felt safe and cared for after having lost my mom was hard. I was
placed with my aunt but because of my grief and abandonment issues, I acted out and
was labeled an angry and unruly child. I was kicked out of almost every school I attended. At the age of 13, I was sent to live with my older sister, but my sister was in
no position to take on a parenting role; she was busy pursuing her career. As a result,
(Continued on page 5)
Mark Waronek — President
Pandora Classen — Vice President
Diane Siegel — Treasurer
Sherri Ashman — Secretary
Sean Nierenhausen — Member
Roxanne Chang — Member
Sandra Carus — Member
Betsy Biggins — Member
Karena Chichester — Member
Pia Vos — Member
Chris Hunter — Member
Executive Director:
Tara Nierenhausen
Newsletter Editor: Pia Vos
“And whosoever welcomes a
little child like this in my name
welcomes me.” —Matthew 18:5
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
Message from Board Member Roxanne Chang, MD
D
ear Friends,
Since its inception a decade ago, Community’s Child has been combating hunger in our
community. The number of neighborhood families facing food insecurity continues to increase,
as the waitlist grows for our Hunger Heroes program at local Torrance and Lomita elementary schools.
The impact of food-insecurity is not limited to the experience of
missed meals, but reverberates throughout other spheres of life,
adversely affecting health and education. Food-insecure families
often buy the cheapest food available, in an effort to provide enough
food for everyone, typically resulting in a diet of calorie-dense but
nutrient-poor foods. Additionally, an alarming number of families
indicate that they have to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.
The conditions of families served by Community’s Child reflect
many of the adverse health correlations reported in the medical
literature. Data gathered at our previous health fairs found that onequarter of children and adults were anemic (likely from iron deficiency). Iron deficiency has been associated with developmental
problems in young children, attention problems in school-aged children and adolescents, and cognitive and mental health problems in
adults.
The health effects of food insecurity may persist beyond early life
into adulthood. The body’s hormonal alterations that take place in
response to hunger and stress may play a role, and may persist even
when the inciting issues resolve. More than three-quarters of parents
were overweight or obese, and around 40 percent were pre-diabetic
and/or pre-hypertensive. Many parents had no access to regular
medical care.
Parents need to be physically healthy to adequately meet the
challenges of daily care giving. The inability to consistently provide
food also creates substantial stress in families, contributing to
depression, anxiety, and relational problems. Most parents strive to
protect their children as much as possible from the feeling of
hunger. Community’s Child’s research found that many of the
parents in the families we serve strategically limit their own intake
in an effort to spare their children. Regardless, parental and family
stress profoundly affects children.
Research has also found that food-insecure children are more likely
to suffer from numerous cognitive and emotional difficulties.
Infants and toddlers are at higher risk of developmental and behavioral problems, which can affect future academic performance and
job skills. School-aged children often have reduced math and reading achievement, while adolescents are more likely to experience
depression and even suicidal thoughts. This may be from a combination of disturbances in brain chemical activity due to poor nutrition, social pressures surrounding food insecurity, and parental
stress, depression, and anxiety.
Community’s Child is not only working hard to combat this locally
by providing food assistance to our most vulnerable populations, but
we are also addressing related problems through our holistic health
screening, education and resource programs. On behalf of the
children we serve, I want to thank all of you for helping us in this
important endeavor.
May God bless you,
Roxanne Chang
Roxanne Chang, MD – Pediatrics
Board Member
www.facebook.com/
CommunitysChild
HOW CAN I HELP?
Community’s Child’s Healthy Bag Program provides food each
Friday to children from local South Bay elementary schools who
have been identified by their teachers and school administrators as not having enough to eat at home over the weekend.
Be a HUNGER HERO by donating the following foods:
BROWN RICE  WHOLE WHEAT PASTA  DRIED OR CANNED
BEANS  CANNED PASTA SAUCE  HEALTHY CHOICE OR
PROGRESSO SOUPS  CANNED TUNA FISH OR CHICKEN 
OAT MEAL OR CREAM OF WHEAT  CHEERIOS OR WHOLE
GRAIN CEREAL  PEANUT BUTTER  GRANOLA BARS  RAISINS  NUTS  FRUIT CUPS  APPLE SAUCE
*No glass jars, please *
To learn more, call Amy Magallanes:
(310) 534-4040 ext. 301
2
BE A CHILD’S HUNGER HERO
A food-insecure local child needs
your help to ensure he or she has
enough nutritious food to eat.
Send donations or monthly pledges to:
COMMUNITY’S CHILD’S
NUTRITION PROGRAM
25520 WOODWARD AVE.
LOMITA CA 90717
To donate online, please visit:
www.cchild.org
All donations are tax deductible:
FEIN# 20-2871854
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
Photos: Stacee Lianna
Below: Board
member Chris
Hunter was a
crowd-pleaser.
Above: The Tiki Bar
served tropical drinks.
Left: Board Member
Diane Siegel (second
from right) with guests.
Denim & Diamonds in Paradise
COMMUNITY’S CHILD’S 2015 FALL FUNDRAISER
C
ommunity’s Child’s 2015 Fall
Fundraiser was held at the Torrance
Civic Center. The guests enjoyed a
fabulous Luau Style dinner in the Toyota
Meeting Hall, prepared by Executive Chefs
Norm and Jon from The Porch. Appetizers
were served by the wonderful young women of Ek Kardia. A fun and colorful show
by traditional Hula Dancers had the audience enthralled and eager to learn the dance
moves themselves.
Our guests also had fun bidding on a wide
variety of silent and live auction items, including a 7 nights’ stay at Lawai Beach
Resort on Kauai, $2,500 worth of dental
work at Dr. Smile’s Tor r ance location, a
week-long stay at one of the luxurious
beach resorts in Mexico run by Vidanta
Resorts, and Jet Blue tickets. Maria Anderson won a Toyota Prius C, donated by DCH
Toyota Torrance for our Hunger Her o
Opportunity Drawing. In celebration of
Community’s Child’s 10-year anniversary,
a large group of former shelter residents
and families who had benefitted from our
outreach programs came to the podium to
give moving tributes. The evening ended
with dancing under the stars at the Torino
Plaza to live performance by the amazing
musicians of Elemental Funk Band.
We are so grateful to our fundraising committee, to our sponsors and auction donors,
and to all our supporters and guests. We
look forward to seeing you all again on
Sep. 24, at this year’s fundraiser.
Board Member Betsy
Biggins and husband.
Left: Executive
Director Tara
Nierenhausen
(center), welcoming event
sponsor Dr. and
Mrs. Kayvon
Javid of Dr.
Smile, and their
two lovely children.
Left: The guests
loved Elemental
Funk Band.
Below: The audience had fun
getting hula
lessons.
Above: Board Member
Karena Chichester and guests.
3
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
THIRD ANNUAL HEALTH SCREENING AND EDUCATION EVENT
Improving Health of Vulnerable Families: A Community Effort
O
n February 20, 77 families with
children participated in Community’s Child’s third annual Health
Screening and Education Event, led by
Board Member Roxanne Chang, MD.
The annual health screening events were
initiated in 2014 in order to combat the
adverse health effects commonly suffered
by families living in poverty. Compassionate healthcare professionals and community volunteers joined us again for this year’s
screenings, donating their time to help us
improve the well being of the underprivileged families we serve.
Under the expert and cheerful supervision
of Community’s Child’s Healthy Bags
Manager Amy Magallanes, the healthcare
teams worked shifts throughout the day,
enabling them to have consultations and
tend to 170 persons in one day.
4
Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s
(TMMC) Nursing and Laboratory Services
provided body measurements, blood pressure, diabetes, and anemia screenings.
Dr. Kayvon Javid’s Dr. Smile team provided dental education, toothbrushes and
toothpaste, and identified those in need of
further dental treatment.
Deborah Larson’s nursing students from
LA Harbor College showed families how
to make nutritious food choices, increase
iron in their diets, and keep children safe in
our media-dominated world.
Medical review of results and consultations
was performed by Drs. Patty Pinanong
(USC Keck Medical Center), Roxanne
Chang and Jamie Ko (Harbor-UCLA Medical Center); Brad Brown, RN (Providence
Little Company of Mary Hospital); Maria
Etchepare, NP (UCLA Ronald Reagan
Medical Center); Navy Corpsman Ivan and
Kimverlyn Yue.
Kaiser South Bay’s Education Outr each
Team engaged families in fun fitness activities and Dr. La Faune Gordon’s team from
Children and Families, Inc., along with
volunteer Lettie Ochoa, supported families’
emotional and relational health with parenting and marriage information and resources.
Local Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) r epr esentatives wer e on hand to
(Continued on page 5)
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
(Continued from page 4)
provide eligible families additional food
assistance. Families also sampled nutritious
yogurt snacks.
Board member Sherri Ashman’s team emphasized the importance of childhood reading and provided tips and resources to enhance family literacy. They distributed children’s books donated by the Molina Foundation.Spanish tr anslator s fr om St. Margaret Mary Church per for med cr itical
translation work during the event. Taco Bell
and Chick-Fil-A kindly pr ovided meals to
all our hardworking volunteers.
Spring Issue 2016
The family’s hearts were full of the love
you brought to the event.
Special thanks to the Lomita Kiwanis
Club for donating their facilities and
providing the manpower to help the day run
so smoothly. Thank you also to Alisa Turmes Dishman and Roberta Painter.
We at Community’s Child want to say a
heartfelt thank you to all of our community
partners for making our third annual Health
Fair a success.
Dr. Roxanne Chang shares
her insights on the event:
We hope that Christ’s love was evident
through the caring faces and hands that
carried out His work of healing.”
- Have the families taken the health education to heart?
- What keeps our health partners coming
back?
Roxanne: “Parents reported behavioral
and lifestyle changes as a result of what
they learned at Community’s Child’s past
events. It has resulted in weight improvements and a reversal of pre-diabetic states.
Roxanne: “A member of TMMC’s team told
me that she loves working with the thankful families, loving parents, and wellbehaved children. Another health provider
expressed that he was impressed with the
The WIC repesentatives talked about their
special supplemental nutrition program.
motivation he saw in our families.”
- What is the most important message to
share with our volunteers?
Roxanne: “It truly takes a village! We thank
all of the healthcare professionals and
community volunteers who donated their
time to the physical, mental, and spiritual
health and well-being of these precious
families in our neighborhoods. May God
richly bless you all!”
I was left with little guidance
and with responsibilities that I
was not mature enough to handle. Without guidance and
boundaries, my life soon spiraled out of control and became
a constant stream of drugs and
alcohol. The people I hung out
were not exactly the best role
models for a 13-year-old girl.
The authorities stepped in and
placed me several times into
juvenile services, but I kept
running away.
was 17 years my senior. We
into darkness, I found out that I
married six months after we
was pregnant with my daughter
met and had two lovely chilSunny. The news was like a ray
dren. I started a career as longof hope; when I learned that I
shore worker at LA and Long
was expecting, I dedicated myBeach Harbor. I thought marself to God and to becoming
riage and having children
sober. In a sense, Sunny saved
would make my life “normal,”
my life and I am forever gratebut God had more challenges in
ful for that. I went back to Alstore for me. As
coholics Anonytime passed, my
mous to finish all
husband became
of my steps and I
I worked
more and more
worked very hard
very hard to
mentally, verbally
to straighten out
and
physically
my life. Today, I
straighten
abusive. Because
have Christ in my
of the abuse I left
life and he reout my life.
my marriage at
minds me every
27.
day of the new
mercies
he
has
for me.
Although I managed to survive
At the age of 18, I timed out of
juvenile services and was sent
back to live with my sister and
two years later, I finally joined
Alcoholics Anonymous. This is
where I met my husband, who
the violence, my life continued
to unravel. A year after my escape, I fell back into addiction.
This time, my addiction included not just alcoholism but also
drug addiction. As I descended
I feel safe...
RESIDENT’S UPDATE
(Continued from page 1)
“
”
Each morning when I get ready
for work, it is with hope in my
heart and with the knowledge
that my family is safe and the
future bright for my children
and me. Life is not easy; being
a single mom who has to abide
by many house rules, attend
numerous counseling sessions,
and classes. But I wouldn’t
change it for anything. I want to
make a better and more productive life for myself and my children, and I am so grateful for
all the help, support and guidance I receive in this program.
All the people here have
showed us so much love, and
my little Sunny has blossomed
here!
I pray that when you read this
you will know that your support
plays a huge part in changing
not only our lives, but all of the
lives of those who are so fortunate to call this place home for
a little while.
Please keep us in your prayers—we need it! Thank you and
may God bless and keep you all.
January
5
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
Below: Toyota Financial
Services team members
volunteered at the event
and helped the children
choose bags. Toyota Financial Services was also
a sponsor of the event.
Lines were long
but friendly
volunteers
made sure the
event ran
smoothly.
“BACK TO SCHOOL” FOCUSED ON COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Event offers school supplies and support to help children succeed
C
ommunity’s Child’s annual Back
to School Event took place on August 10, 2015 and was attended by
almost 300 children. The event was sponsored by Scriba Family, Toyota Financial
Services, M&A Management, Lomita
Sheriff’s Department, Wells Fargo, US
Bank Corp., Deshawn Wynn and Metropolitan Church of Christ.
At the event, the children from the disadvantaged families we serve received backpacks
with all the school supplies needed for the
school start. To offset additional expenses,
such as clothing and shoes, the families also
received Target gift cards, donated by Toyota Financial Services.
The families were given information about
how to sign-up for our Healthy Bag program
through their schools. The program makes
sure that children do not go hungry over the
weekend and benefits food-insecure elementary school children. Every Friday, Community’s Child delivers the grocery bags to the
schools, which are then distributed by
school administrators to the elementary children signed up in the program.
Eleven of our community partners also presented crucial services and assistance programs available to our families:
Children and Families signed up families
for parenting classes. Helping Kids to Recover pr ovided infor mation for teens in
need prevention and intervention services.
South Bay Literacy Council signed up
families
for
ESL
classes.
Lomita Sheriff’s Explorers signed up
teens to join their program. Volunteers of
America Ear ly Head Star t pr ogr am
shared information about their early education, health and child care services, and their
child development, nutrition and parenting
support for parents with children ages 0-3
years.
Elizabeth from Harbor Interfaith Services
provided information on how families can
apply for the SNAP program. Mental Health
Advocacy Services explained how families
can apply for Medi-Cal services. Dr. Smile’s
Dental Services gave tips on dental hygiene and informed families about services
available at their offices in Lomita, San Pedro, Torrance and El Segundo. The Employment Development Department (EDD)
was there to offer teens information on employment opportunities.
Thank you to all volunteers, donors and
community partners who made this event a
success.
Special thanks to the following sponsors and partners:
LOMITA SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
6
HELPING KIDS TO REVOVER, INC.
EMPLOYMENT AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
A COMMUNITY
Thanksgiving
c
The children
wrote thank
you cards and
made fun
Thanksgiving
crafts projects.
Below: The grocery bags were
pre-packed to
give families more
time to choose
warm clothing.
ommunity’s Child was
very blessed to be able to
provide more than 200
families in need with turkeys and all the groceries needed to prepare a great home-cooked Thanksgiving
dinner. A wonderful team from Toyota
Financial Services pr e-packed all the
grocery bags so that the families could
avoid standing in line and instead enjoy
the festivities at the event. Joy the
Clown enter tained with balloons while
the children got colorful face paintings
and visited craft tables to make Thanksgiving cards. Taco Bell provided delicious burritos, served with beverages
donated by Arrowhead.
An amazing assortment of cold-weather
clothing for children and adults was on
display at the stands and the families
were so happy to be able to choose
among the beautiful sweaters, warm
jackets, boots and other items, donated
by the Girl Scouts and Seaside Church.
The children also loved the cute hats
donated by Baby2Baby and the books,
donated by First Books and Molina
Foundation.
Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers and donors; may God bless you
all.
Special thank you to: Toyota F inancial
Services, Scriba Family, Arrowhead,
Bread of Life Church, M&A Management, South Bay Junior Women’s Club,
Car Max of Torrance, Operation Kid
Power, Bay Cities Community Church,
St Margret Mary Charter School, River
Church and Girl Scout Troop 2275, and
Taco Bell.
7
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
Photos: Ellena Zimmerman
COMMUNITY STEPS UP TO COMBAT CHILD HUNGER
DCH Toyota’s Hunger Hero food drive makes giving fun
O
n Nov. 7, 2015, DCH Toyota Torrance organized another successful
Hunger Hero food drive, benefitting Community’s Child’s Healthy Bag
program.
The food drive, sponsored by DCH Toyota
and Dr. Smile, had a carnival theme, with
fun activities for the entire family, including carnival games and prizes, cookie decoration tables, face painting, a jumper slide
for the children, balloons and entertainment
by Joy the Clown, a hot dog stand and an
ice cream sundae bar.
To reward the food donors for their contribution to the fight against child hunger in
our community, DHC Toyota treated everybody to free hot dogs and ice cream.
We are so grateful for the show of support
for this cause from the community.
Special thanks to DCH Toyota Torrance
for hosting the food drive, and to Pastor
Jeremy Anthony of Freedom Church, Torrance, and Board Member Sherri Ashman
for supplying the wonderful volunteers
working at the stations during the event.
Roger and Mary Maxim gave lessons on
how to care for a planter garden and gave
food donors their own plant to take home.
Everybody bringing a bag of food for the
children served by Community’s Child was
also entered in a drawing for a bike, donated by Walmart.
On behalf of the food-insecure children
who rely on the Healthy Bag program for
food during the weekend when no school
meals are available: Thank you to all of
you who donated and participated.
WINNER GETS PRIUS KEYS
T
he winner of the Prius C in the
Hunger Hero Opportunity
Drawing, Maria Anderson, was
handed her keys during a ceremony
at DCH Toyota Torrance.
Old Memories’ toy drive a success
Old Memories Harbor Club held a toy dr ive
at DCH Toyota before Christmas, collecting a
large amount of wonderful gifts for the children
served by Community’s Child. Thank you so
much Old Memories and DHC Toyota.
8
Maria is handed the keys to her new
Prius C by DCH Toyota Torrance General Manager Chris Hunter.
The Prius was donated by DCH
Toyota and 100 percent of the proceeds from the ticket sales went to
our Healthy Bag program, which
supplies food to local food-insecure
elementary school children.
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
A COMMUNITY
O
Christmas
n Dec. 14, 2015, Community’s Child welcomed 270 disadvantaged children to celebrate Christmas
at our annual Community Christmas
Event. The event’s major sponsor,
Toyota Financial Services, and many
other generous donors in our community, made sure that each and every
child we serve received wonderful, age
-appropriate Christmas gifts.
Above: Council member
Geoff Rizzo is a beloved
Santa.
Right: Amy Magallanes
wheels out the gifts.
At the event, the Girl Scouts gave gift
stockings to all the children. Photographer Ellena Zimmerman ran a Santa
portrait studio where all the families
got beautiful family pictures with Santa to take home. Torrance Council
Member Geoff Rizzo was the event’s
cherished Santa.
A “Happy Birthday party for Jesus”
was organized by Anthos Group, King
Harbor, and the children received fun
books from First Books.
At the craft project tables, the children
decorated festive frames for the pictures while the parents decorated gift
bags for the toys they had chosen for
their children. Before leaving, the families enjoyed a pizza party, organized
by Palos Verdes Junior Women’s
Club. Volunteer s fr om Ek Kardia
and Victory Outreach Women’s Home
helped make the event run smoothly.
Thank you to all the donors and all the
volunteers who spent many hours preparing and helping out. You brought
cheer, joy and hope to hundreds of
families in need in the South Bay. We
are so grateful.
Right: Volunteers
from Toyota Financial Services.
Far right: Volunteers from PV Junior
Women’s Club.
Special thank you to: Toyota Financial Services, Old Memories Harbor Club, Priscilla
and Brandon French, PV Junior Women’s Club, Arrowhead, Baby2Baby, Daisy Troop
3885 and Brownie Troop 16895, Matthew 25, Ek Kardia, M&A Management, First Book,
Volunteer Center of South Bay, San Pedro Victory Outreach Women’s Home
Below: Sunny
loved her gift.
St. Mark’s blesses the children at our shelter
T
en days before Christmas, St
worship. St. Mark’s kindly donated
Mark’s Presbyterian Church,
gifts that covered the full wish list of
Lomita, visited the moms
the children. The children
and children at Building
opened one present each durHope. The visit was very
ing the visit and placed the
special for the moms and
other precious gifts under the
children, who baked ChristChristmas tree, to be opened
mas cookies to honor their
on Christmas morning. The
guests. Under Pastor Billy Pastor Billy Song. children loved their gifts and
Song’s guidance, the children and
were so happy and thankful. Thank
moms prayed, sang and played in
you, St. Mark’s.
Below:
Baby Angel.
Above: Mich,
Natalie and
Atiyah.
Right: Amanda, Ezkel and
Gabriel.
9
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
Spring Issue 2016
Together We Can!
Building Hope: Our Community Supporters
Community’s Child would like to acknowledge our Community Supporters.
Thank you for helping us to help those in need in our community.
Health Care Partners Administrator Niki Fafoutis
brought a donation from
Health Care Partners for
our Healthy Bags Program.
Sunny, one of the children in
the shelter, was so happy and
proud to be starting preschool
last fall.
Operation Kid Power did a H u n ger H er o food dr ive last
Fall. They were so dedicated and collected so many food items
for our families in need. Way to go Operation Kid Power!
Las Candalistas volunteer s
help out in our Healthy Bags
program where bags go out
to school children every Friday. They are a blessing!
Congratulations to Amy
Magallanes, our new Healthy
Bags Manager, for being
awarded her Food Handler
Certification.
Our annual garage sale took place in March. Board Member
Sherri Ashman transformed her entire driveway into a mini
“shopping strip,” lined with tables full of bargains. All the proceeds will go to support Community's Child's programs.
The women of Norwalk Grace Brethren Church hand crocheted
beautiful blankets for the babies and children in the shelter.
Food Finders and Amazon Prime
donated 1,000 pounds of food in March.
Each Friday, “Healthy Bags” staff and
volunteers pack and deliver 200 bags of
groceries to food-insecure South Bay
elementary school children.
10
The team members of Toyota
Financial Services held a
Christmas toy drive and collected a mountain of wonderful presents for the children in
our program. The gifts
brought the children so much
joy and we are so thankful.
Malaga Bank has its own
team of Hunger Heroes now.
They support our Healthy
Bag program with donations.
COMMUNITY’S CHILD
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING DONORS:
California Community
Foundation
Mason, Jack and Adele
Family Foundation
DCH Toyota of Torrance Auto
Group
Norris Foundation
Health Care Partners
In-N-Out Burger Foundation
KP Financial Services Ops
M & A Management
Matthew Six Foundation
Ellena Zimmerman, a
recent graduate of our
shelter program,was
one of the
extraordinary women chosen
as panelists at the 2015
Women in Business Event,
speaking about overcoming
adversity. The event, “A Celebration of Perseverance,”
was held at the Torrance
Double Tree. Ellena is representing all who receive services at Community’s Child.
We are so proud of her.
Oarsmen Foundation
Spring Issue 2016
Thank you to Kais er Permane nte for a grant to set up a
community support program and outreach program to prevent
family violence. The grant enables Community’s Child to offer
classes and support to families. The new program is called
Healthy Relationship Program: Preventing Family Violence.
Palos Verdes Women’s Club
Rolling Hills Covenant Church
Scriba Family
Toyota Financial
Services
GIRL SCOUTS RENOVATE AT OUR SHELTER
I
Athena Paquette and Tom
Cormier hosted a Christmas
Party where the guests were
asked to bring a bag of food
for local hungry children.
n February, Girl Scout
Troop 16735 undertook an
ambitious renovation and
beautification project
for Building Hope.
They built an amazing
new play and reading
area for the children.
In the building’s therapy center, they also
created a new play area for the
children, and they refurbished
the adult therapy area. The
project involved designing,
sanding, priming and painting
all the furniture, reupholstering chairs and shopping for
new items. Home DepotCarson and
Home
Depot-Gardena assisted with donations of
primer, paint, chalkboard paint, brushes
and more. Mr. Carus
and Mr. Arzola helped
the girls by marking the walls
for the shelves. The new areas
are beautiful; we are so thankful and the children are
thrilled.
Marlene donated a Christmas
tree to the children in the
shelter.
SHELTER EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
I
South Bay Junior Woman’s
Club and Yogurtland Riviera Place held a fundraiser
for Community’s Child in
March. Terri, Irma, Tara and
Amy visited for some delicious frozen yoghurt.
Dr. Smile had a toy dr ive in
his dental office for the children served by Community’s
Child.
n Oct. 2015, retired fireman Glenn Jaynes and his wife Eileen
came to the shelter to teach the moms and children about
emergency preparedness. They talked about how to prepare for
emergencies like earthquakes and fires, and went through the
building exit plans, making sure everybody knew what to do.
They also updated the shelters emergency kits, checked all the
fire alarms and replaced old items.
The children were fascinated with the drill and excited to try out
the gear of a real fireman. Thank you Glenn and Eileen for making sure everybody stays safe.
11
“Transitioning homeless and disadvantaged women and children
into valued and contributing members of the community.”
NON-PROFIT ORG.
US. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 3033
Torrance, CA
25520 Woodward Ave.
Lomita, CA 90717
Phone: 310-534-4040
Fax: 310-534-4050
E-mail: [email protected]
C
UPCOMING EVENTS
WISH LIST
FOOD FOR OUR
HEALTHY BAG PROGRAM
Apr. 9, 2016, 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
– Hunger Hero Festival, Food
Drive at DCH Toyota, Torrance
July 11, 2016 – Feed the Children
Event
Aug. 8, 2016 – Back to School
Event
Sep. 24, 2016, 5 p.m. – Denim &
Diamonds in Paradise, Community’s Child’s Annual Fundraiser
Classes to be announced:
Please call our office for upcoming community classes (offered
continuously) such as ESL Classes, Healthy Relationships and
Parenting Classes: (310) 534-4040
Denim & Diamonds in Paradise
Our Annual Fundraiser
Saturday, Sep. 24, 2016 at 5 p.m.
Address:
#1 Crest Road
Rolling Hills CA 90274
Tickets: $100, available online at www.cchild.org.
Call to sponsor a table of 10. For more information,
please call us at: (310) 534-4040.
Tuna or Chicken (cans only)
Brown Rice
Whole Wheat Pasta
Dried Beans or Cans of Beans
Low-sodium Pasta Sauce (cans)
Healthy Choice or Progresso
Soup (cans only)
Oat Meal or Cream of Wheat
Whole Grain Cereal or Cheerios
Peanut Butter, Granola Bars,
Raisins, Fruit Cups, Apple
Sauce, Nuts