A student at M.I.T.@Vaughn Middle School in San Fernando, Luis says he loves science and wants to be a mechanical engineer. He has a computer at home, but no internet access and no printer. Many of his school assignments require research on the internet and the only way he can complete assignments is at MEND. Youth Services volunteers say he is an excellent student and very motivated.

Tutoring is at the heart of the Youth Services program at MEND.

The program, developed to provide homework help for low-income children in the community, also offers access to computers, printers and the internet—critical educational tools not available in the homes of many MEND families.

Field trips, guitar lessons and exercise classes are also offered, giving children opportunities they would not otherwise have.  Relationships are also formed and role models quickly gained.

Andrea Lopez, Youth Services Coordinator, says the Youth Services program gives kids a chance to shine.  “Many of our children are the first in their family to get a formal education, so they don’t have the academic support at home. There is also a technological gap because they don’t have the tools at home to complete assignments.  We help bridge the gap with our tutor volunteers and access to computers.”

When asked what he would do if he couldn’t use the facilities at MEND he says, “That’s a very hard question.” Then he smiles.

Andrea, who was once a MEND volunteer teaching ESL herself, says there is always a need for tutors: “All we ask for is two hours a week to help a child like Luis with homework and make a difference in a child’s life.”  Contact Andrea at 818 686 7319 or andrealopez@mendpoverty.org

More than $4 million in revenue generated.

These are the kind of numbers that any rising executive would love to put on her résumé. But for 83-year-old Marge Terhar, this achievement is not a matter of business, but of the heart.

Since 1999, the Northridge resident has been serving on MEND’s Fundraising Proposal Committee. Her impressive results have now been recognized by the Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation, which has bestowed on her the 2012 Halo Award for outstanding volunteer service.

The Halo Award recognizes volunteers who, like Marge, do exemplary work in their communities. The Foundation awarded $20,000 to MEND and $5,000 to Terhar, who gave her share to MEND. The recognition luncheon took place at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica last March.

Before she began volunteering for MEND, Marge had spent a dozen years writing a newsletter for her Northridge church, Our Lady of Lourdes—a task she still performs.  “A gentleman who was on the board of MEND had been reading it and ask me if I had ever thought of writing grants,” she recalls. “I said, ‘No, but I’m willing to try.’ I knew about MEND and was inspired by what they do, and I think that’s important. You really have to know the organization you’re writing about.”

Marge spends about 40 hours a month preparing proposals, researching new funding possibilities, tracking grant applications, and mentoring newer members of the Proposal Committee. Over the years, she helped develop systems and tracking forms that enabled a team of volunteer writers to write 130 grant requests with a success rate of 74% approvals. One of her key successes was a $500,000 Keck Foundation grant that helped build MEND’s Pacoima headquarters.

In the business world, results like Marge’s might be motivated by ambition. But her work comes from the heart. She knows that her efforts are helping MEND to continue its work of lifting its clients out of poverty and meeting each need with dignity. 

REGISTER ONLINE VIA PAYPAL 

Keynoting the conference will be Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, the director and health officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health; and Gay Ann Williams, Vice President and Medicare Compliance Officer, Health Net, Inc.. Robert K. Ross, CEO of The California Endowment, will deliver the opening address.

This year’s one-day event will include concurrent workshops on three key healthcare issues:

• The Home Health Model: Innovative Services for Low-Income Individuals, hosted by The California Endowment;
• The Affordable Care Act and Worksite Wellness Programs for Nonprofits, hosted by Kaiser Permanente;
• Challenges of Providing Healthcare to the “Invisible,” hosted by UCLA—Center for Civil Society

New this year is an invitation-only Executive Directors Roundtable Breakfast with Dr. Ross of The California Endowment. Invitations to CEOs of Los Angeles–area poverty nonprofits will be sent in April.

Registration for the event is $89 through June 7 and $109 thereafter.

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The event is hosted by MEND and will be held at the MEND Center, 10641 N. San Fernando Road, Pacoima, CA 91331, on Thursday, June 13th, 2013, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Conference sponsors to date include

• Councilmember Richard Alarcon
• Bank of America
• The California Endowment
• The California Wellness Association
• Facey Medical Group
• Health Net, Inc.
• Kaiser Permanente
• LA Care Health Plan
• Mission Community Hospital
• Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County
• Northeast Valley Health Corporation
• Pacific Federal Insurance Corporation
• Valley Presbyterian Hospital
• Wells Fargo
• Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky

To register, visit our PAYPAL ONLINE REGISTRATION PAGE or download the Printable Registration Form (PDF) or (Word version).

Through its NeighborhoodLIFT program—in collaboration with the Wells Fargo Foundation and NeighborhoodWorks America —Wells Fargo has provided $300,000 in funds to enable this new program, along with related MEND initiatives. The funds will underwrite the supplies, materials, and staffing essential to the program.

For several years, MEND has run a small but popular after-school program called Seeds to Supper, in which school children learn to grow, harvest, and prepare vegetables from MEND’s small parking-lot garden. The new Home Gardening Training Program will go much farther, teaching 72 families over the course of 2013 how to grow their own food on a sustainable basis.

As MEND’s assistant food bank director Luke Ippoliti puts it, the new program  “will allow families to have access to the fresh, healthy food that they want but that is economically out of reach.  Parents will be able to take pride in the fact that they’re feeding their kids well, and the kids will learn where good food comes from and be less at risk for diet-related illnesses.”

The program will include introductory gardening classes, along with workshops on cooking, nutrition, canning, and seed saving. Social events like potlucks and harvest celebrations will bring the participating families together, growing a sense of community and strengthening the program.

Like all MEND undertakings, the Home Garden Program will be driven by volunteers, who will work alongside families to build and install the gardens. Volunteer mentors will follow up with garden visits to share more of their knowledge and answer questions.

The goal is not only to alleviate hunger and promote sustainable self-sufficiency, but also to beautify local neighborhoods in a practical way. In addition, through an agreement with TreePeople, hundreds of fruit trees will be planted throughout the local neigborhoods.

Managing the project will be MEND’s newest employee, Home Garden Program Coordinator Laura Robledo. A CSUN graduate in political science, Laura brings extensive experience in working with local gardeners as the former garden coordinator for the Youth Speak Collective’s Project Youth Green, Pacoima’s very own community garden. Laura grew up in and still resides in the area, and has a strong passion for helping her community.

Through its new home harvest program, MEND’s staff and volunteers have found yet another way of realizing the key vision of its founders: to help people break out of poverty through self-reliance.

Photo: Diana, Cinthia, and Belinda with their mother Maria Torres stand in their yard where a vegetable garden will soon take root.

In the MEND Eye Care Clinic, she learned that she didn’t need a thick lens at all.  ”I received my new glasses and they were perfect from the start! I can wear them all the time. My prescription changes frequently–twice in seven months–but MEND optometrists keep an eye on me.” In addition, Ericka’s young son was examined and prescribed glasses in the clinic, an expense that she couldn’t afford.

Since MEND’s Eye Care Clinic is part of the Medical Clinic, Ericka works directly assisting other eye care patients and has witnessed the great need for eye care services.

“A few days ago I had a 35 year old patient that had never been to an eye clinic in his life.  When the doctor put the prescription lenses in front of his eyes he was overwhelmed.  He could not believe how clearly he could see the letters on the chart!”

As she gains valuable work experience for her new career, Ericka is finding fulfillment at MEND. “I help patients, my supervisors and my co-workers” she says. “I learn so much at MEND. Helping patients in need means so much to me.”

Please spread the word about MEND’s eye care services for low-income individuals and families.