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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Mortuary Makeover: Boys & Girls Club in the Spotlight

This is a regular feature on philanthropic activities by Valley-area businesspeople and companies. It’s likely you wouldn’t want your kids spending their time hanging out in a mortuary, but that’s just what the youth who frequent the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley in Canoga Park were doing until this month. That’s when a renovation program that had volunteers refurbishing the building a little at a time went into overdrive, courtesy of HGTV and Rebuilding Together. “They took a building that had a very specific use,” said Jan Sobel, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club, “and made it an amazing place for kids.” Specific, and may we add creepy, is right. “As an example, the arts and crafts room was the embalming room,” said Sobel. In the renovation process, apparatus was removed, new lighting was installed and the room was brightened up with new paint, flooring and furnishings. The renovation involved two parts. One was completed by HGTV’s program, “Over Your Head.” “They totally remade the Teen Center,” said Sobel. That episode of the show aired Nov. 17. The other was done under the auspices of HGTV’s “Change the World, Start at Home,” a nationwide community revitalization campaign being undertaken in cooperation with Rebuilding Together, a charitable organization similar to Habitat for Humanity. It couldn’t have happened without a lot of volunteers, many of whom came from Valley businesses like Blue Shield of California, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the Warner Center Marriott and Westfield. Pratt’s Community Relations Manager, Pam Campeau, said they had 31 volunteers who put in close to 200 hours on the refurbishment. “We have a great volunteer base here,” said Campeau. “They’ve taken on the Boys & Girl’s Club as a special project.” The company has had a longstanding commitment to the club which Campeau said includes donating $10,000 a year for at least the past 10 years. The taping of the big reveal episode of the show on Nov. 8 drew a crowd of luminaries including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “I say, ‘Oh my God’ a lot at the end of the show,” said Sobel. “I swore I wasn’t going to do that and sure enough, there I am saying it almost to the point of nauseum.” Burbank Arts for All The Walt Disney Company is donating $25,000 to the Burbank Arts Education Foundation, a private organization that is building a $10 million endowment to fund a high-quality arts education program for all students in the Burbank Unified School District. Rescuing Thanksgiving First Security Lending and Windermere Real Estate/Bill Toth & Associates donated 150 turkeys to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center on Monday using First Security’s 1942 Mack Pumper Fire Engine as the transport vehicle. Parental Support Viewpoint School of Calabasas received the pledge of a $1.25 million donation to their capital campaign courtesy of Jeremy and Dr. Charlotte Fletcher. The funds will be put to use in the building of a state-of-the-art library that will be part of a 13,500-square-foot academic building scheduled for a construction start of June 2008. The Fletchers have been active volunteers since their sons started as junior kindergartners. Their eldest is now a sophomore at UC Berkeley while the youngest is a junior at Viewpoint. Foodie Fundraiser The award-winning Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas hosted a special fundraiser Oct. 28 for public television station KCET that netted $37,000. The dinner menu was designed to compliment Spanish wines generously donated by The Honorable Inocencio F. Arias, Consul General of Spain. The photograph pictures Ann Ehringer, proprieter of Saddle Peak with Williams Kobin, KCET president emeritus, and KCET supporter Fran Goodman.

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