The Story: Short Version
The short version is that two of my dad biggest passions were golf and teaching youth. His retirement plan was to play golf and become a teacher. We take pride in supporting THINK Together and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor, because these two charities are all about improving children’s education. What better way to support these causes than to have a charity golf tournament that furthers my dad’s retirement plan?
The Story: Long Version
Up until my dad passed away in 1999, he was involved in the Palos Verdes Peninsula (PVP) Rotary Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. The members of the club at that time supported a local 4H Club that was in the middle of the Projects in San Pedro, CA. Several of the members, along with my mom, made a weekly habit of going to the 4H Club on Thursday afternoons to tutor for several hours. Some of the Rotary members would even go a step further and take kids once a month or so to plays at places like the Pantages Theater or the Ahmanson Theater. The PVP Rotary had a great relationship with this particular 4H Club, and so after my dad passed away we thought we would continue my dad’s legacy by taking this relationship to the next level.
The plan began as a simple expansion of the tutoring services that the PVP Rotary Club had been providing, with our Foundation hiring local college students from the private two-year Marymount College, which was less than a mile from the 4H Club. Four or five students were hired each semester to tutor four days a week at the 4H Club, and thanks to Marymount College who did all of the hiring and administration of the student workers, this relationship was successful for three years. The first golf tournament was held in August 2000 and off we went with this charity. The net yearly funds generated by the golf tournament totaled approximately $10,000 which was more than enough to pay for the tutors ($3,000-$5000) that were hired.
This program/relationship worked well, however the truth of it was that the 4H Club in this region of Los Angeles was extremely political and had a very poor Regional Director. While the lady who ran this particular club was very good, the Regional Director was difficult and killed every idea we proposed to him. From our point of view, we were trying to give the guy free money to make one of his clubs better, but his agenda was never really about the kids. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when going into our fourth year that the 4H Club closed up shop in this region of Los Angeles with little information or notice. We were thus without a youth organization to support going into that school year.
We let things play out for a few months and soon the Boys and Girls Club of the Los Angeles Harbor (BGCLAH), which runs five Boys and Girls Clubs, had stepped up and began marketing their after school programs to this same Projects area of San Pedro. The PVP Rotary made contact with the BGCLAH and began a tutoring relationship at this BGC which was only a few miles away from the old 4H Club. Most of this kids who had used to attend the 4H Club were now going over to the BGCLAH and so we were back in business. The BGCLAH welcomed the PVP Rotary and our young, but established, tutoring program to their club with open arms. The BGC’s staff and their Director, Mike Lansing, were and still are incredible folks whose agenda is completely and totally about the kids.
Our tutoring program of hiring Marymount College students, for good reasons, only lasted at the BGCLAH for one year. We were then approached by Mike Lansing to instead of hiring tutors, make a donation to an up and coming College Bound (CB) program that they had started in 2002. This CB program was not only a tutoring program, but it provided kids with a vision to attend college. The CB program was not only about tutoring the students in their academics, but to also motivate and help them with the necessary steps to attend college. Most of the families of the students who attended this BGC had never attended college and so understanding the grade requirements as well as the SAT/ACT requirements are often difficult to sort through without a little help. We immediately feel in love with the idea of supporting the CB program and since 2005 we have given $10,000 every year to support this program. For more information about the successes of the CB program, please visit the BGCLAH web site and click on the College Bound program link under the Programs link.
Around that time, my mom had moved to Orange County, where through her church, she began tutoring with another organization called THINK Together. If you’ve never heard of THINK Together, you may want to get familiar with them as they are a fast growing after school program that is taking Southern California by storm. Since 1996, they have grown to over 200 locations in the Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino areas. My mom began tutoring at their original Shalimar location (great story here), in Costa Mesa in 2006, and like the College Bound Program at the BGCLAH, we can’t say enough about THINK. Like the College Bound program, THINK Together provides after school tutoring for elementary through high school aged kids as well as provides that vision of continuing education beyond high school. The THINK Together organization is run by a stellar individual, Randy Barth, who has created an organization of educators and business folks, whose agenda is all about the success of children through after school program.
Just about the time that we took on THINK Together as another charity to support, a couple additional sponsors came on board with our golf tournament boost our net proceeds to $20,000 per year. After the 2006 tournament we decided that in addition to the year $10,000 we gave to BGCLAH, we were going to give $10,000 per year to THINK Together as well.
In addition to the monies that we have given to the BGCLAH and THINK Together, we have had additional projects that have come our way that we have been able to support as well. In 2004, with cooperation from the PVP Rotary Club, we donated $10,000 in matching funds to the renovation of the commercial kitchen at the Wilmington Boys and Girls site of the BGCLAH. In 2006, again with the cooperation of the PVP Rotary Club, we donated an additional $10,000 in matching funds to help remodel a room at the San Pedro site of the BGCLAH. Walls were erected, furniture, cabinets, and computers were furnished to fill this new room that was named the Charles Abbott Career Ready Center. Finally in 2007 we donated $20,000 to Bring Me A Book to have them come and install one of their libraries at THINK Together’s Shalimar location. Bring Me a Book provides libraries of high quality books into various locations so that children and parents can have easy access to books to check out and take home.
If you have read all of this, thank you so much for taking the time. My mom and I consider it a privilege to keep the memory of my dad alive and support such wonderful organizations as mentioned above. Thanks for your support.
