This regular feature focuses on philanthropic activities by Valley-area companies and businesspeople. Time Warner Inc.’s 26th annual Andrew Heiskell Community Service Awards was celebrated on June 12 with a luncheon ceremony at Time Warner Center in New York City. The awards were presented to Time Warner employees in recognition of their outstanding individual contributions to community and public services. Recipients of the awards were nominated by their peers and chosen from about 89,000 Time Warner employees worldwide. “Time Warner is committed to strengthening the communities in which we do business, and we’re proud to recognize our employees’ outstanding contributions to those communities with the Heiskell Award,” said Dick Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, in a written statement. Awarded the Andrew Heiskell Community Service Award were nine Time Warner employees including Dean S. Marks, senior vice president for corporate business development and strategy of Warner Bros. Entertainment in Burbank. Alan Horn, president and COO of Warner Bros. Entertainment in Burbank, was awarded Time Warner’s Civic Leadership Award, which honors a senior executive for outstanding community leadership. Horn is a founding board member of the Environmental Media Association, vice chairman of the Natural Resources Defense Council and sits on the Board of Trustees for the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. The winners of the Community Service Team Award were 27 AOL employees who volunteer for Meals on Wheels delivering meals to the elderly. Along with the honor of receiving the Heiskell award, each of the award winners will receive $5,000 from Time Warner in the form of a $3,000 donation to the nonprofit groups of their choice and a personal honorarium of $2,000. For the community service team award, Time Warner will make a $10,000 donation to the nonprofit organization or organizations of the team’s choice. At Horn’s request, Time Warner will donate $5,000 to the Environmental Media Association. Radio Station Supports Hope Gardens Local Christian radio station 99.5 FM KKLA has teamed up with Union Rescue Mission to establish Hope Gardens, a new living community for Skid Row families. This refurbished residential facility in Sylmar provides families of women and children from Skid Row a new place to live. Reba Toney, KKLA anchor and single mother, has been at the forefront of this mission by heading an on-air drive to support Hope Gardens. “When I heard of Hope Gardens, it answered prayers,” Toney said. According to Terry Harris, senior account executive at KKLA, close to 200 donors participated in the drive. Since beginning the campaign in December 2005, the station has raised over $80,000, enough money to support four families, who will move into Hope Gardens. “I really got into some great success with Reba,” Harris said. “She just connects with these stories. Her heart really goes out to these people and she really gets behind it.” The grand opening for Hope Gardens is July 13, when 20 families will move into their new homes. When Toney visited Union Rescue Mission, she noticed that the facility offered many different ways to help homeless people. “The only thing they’ve been lacking was a real means to help single moms and kids,” she said. “It’s been real fragmented.” What KKLA did to help spread the word on Hope Gardens was share a story of a particular family. This is when people started sending money. “We found that listeners really want to help and do the right thing,” Toney said. “Many people connect with mothers and children. It seems the community really wanted to connect with that.” Chamber Fundraiser In support of the East Valley YMCA and the Lymphoma Society, the Studio City Chamber of Commerce will have a silent auction and Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament at its July Mixer. Located at Keller Williams Realty in Studio City the event will occur on July 19 and run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event is free to members. Amgen Donates The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Training Institute opened in New York, an effort made possible in part by a grant of $2.5 million from the Amgen Foundation. The grant, made over three years, was a partnership with the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention. The institute will provide training to individuals interested in becoming patient navigators as well as health care administrators developing patient navigation programs. “We thank the Amgen Foundation for providing this extraordinary gift to launch the Patient Navigation Training Institute,” Dr. Freeman said in a written statement announcing the opening. “The Institute is designed to create a well trained work force of patient navigators, who will help to eliminate barriers to cancer care at countless underserved sites throughout the nation.” —Rossana Woo
