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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Santa Clarita Valley’s Amazing Race Gains Momentum

This series chronicles philanthropic activities of businesses. Inspired by the hit reality television series, The Amazing Race, plans are well underway for a giant treasure hunt to take place in the Santa Clarita Valley next year. The idea, which originated within The Michael Hoefflin Foundation for Children’s Cancer, is a way to raise much needed funds for charities and also help businesses during difficult economic times. The concept has gained traction and four charities have joined The Michael Hoefflin Foundation to make Santa Clarita Valley’s Amazing Race a reality: Single Mother’s Outreach; LetMeSail; Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation; and Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers. “We are extremely excited,” said Jeffrey Shapiro, executive director of the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, who came up with the concept.” This is a true collaboration, which is not something that has traditionally happened, of community based organizations wanting to give back to the community,” he said. The event, which has also received strong support from former contestants of the reality show The Amazing Race, will challenge a maximum of 45 teams –each with four members – to a game that will have them racing across the Santa Clarita Valley, from shopping center to shopping center, finding clues that lead to the next stop, and performing different tasks and challenges. The first team to reach the final destination point wins. Of those 45 teams, 30 will likely include a former contestant from The Amazing Race, said Shapiro, and these “celebrity” teams will need to raise $1,000 to participate in the race. The other 15 teams, comprised of groups of family members, colleagues or friends, will need to raise $500. Local businesses will be an integral part of the race and this will help promote companies and boost traffic to those locations, according to Shapiro. The event, which will be held in June of 2010, is expected to draw crowds from all over the region. Supported by sponsorships, a community fair and festival will also take place as part of the event, and will give all charities in the Santa Clarita Valley an opportunity to have a presence and benefit from the race. “Hopefully this will be the first year of what will become an annual event,” Shapiro said. For more information visit: www.scvamazingrace.org. Businesses Stepping Up Their Giving Philanthropic dollars may have been hard to get from big foundations this year, but both individuals and businesses have stepped up their giving to charities, according to Marianne Haver Hill, president and CEO of MEND-Meat Each Need with Dignity. According to Haver Hill, the number of volunteer hours given to MEND, the largest poverty agency in the Valley, from 2008 to 2009 is up 125 percent. “I think businesses are very aware of how many people are struggling,” she said. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, businesses including Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills, Warner Brothers and CCI LVN, Nursing School have sent troops of volunteers to MEND, she said, helping the organization fulfill its mission of providing emergency food, clothing, medical, vision and dental care, job skills training and job placement assistance, to more than 30,000 individuals each year. Companies that are conducting food, toy or blanket drives for MEND’s holiday basket program include: Walt Disney, Kaiser, Kroeger, Hamer Toyota, Boeing Spectrolab and the Westfield Shopping Center. Galpin Motors has donated the use of a box truck, as they’ve done in years past, for volunteers to pick up donations of toys, food and blankets from organizations around the San Fernando Valley. Recently Walt Disney donated $7,200 for gift cards to MEND Christmas families for purchasing meat (turkey, pork roast, etc) for their Christmas dinners. Boeing Spectrolab donated $2,500, Hamer Toyota made a $2,000 contribution and The Gas Company donated $1,000. Wells Fargo recently made a $50,000 donation to support MEND’s emergency food program over the holiday season and into 2010. “Wells Fargo continues to hear from our non-profit partners about the soaring demand for food while donations decline,” said Marla Vasquez, Wells Fargo San Fernando Valley Community Bank regional president, in a press release. “We all need to do more to support organizations like MEND that are helping our communities through this challenging time. This is why we are expanding our support of MEND with a cash donation of $50,000.” Bank of America has also pledged $50,000 for MEND’s clinic for uninsured, low income patients, before the end of December. Warner Brothers has committed $10,000 and Precisions Dynamics Corporation has pledged to give $2,000 before the month is over. An increase in monetary and in-kind contributions has allowed MEND to stay abreast of the growing demand for its services at a time when unemployment has reached record levels. According to Haver Hill, MEND has increased services by 68 percent from last year. “There’s no way we could have met this increase in demand without an increase in volunteers and contributions,” she said. “This increase is due to recently unemployed individuals seeking to gain job experience or new skills through volunteering, and through corporations and individuals being prompted through concern about the recession to give of their time and resources,” she said. A Tradition of Giving at USI As they have for the past 15 years, USI Insurance Services supported the LAPD’s Foothill Division’s annual Holiday drive to give baskets of food, toys, and clothing to local needy families this year. Through bake sales, a silent auction, the sale of casual dress days at the office among other events, USI employees raised over $5,500 in cash. Additionally three of USI’s clients donated items: Imperial Toys of North Hills gave 1000 toys, OPI in North Hollywood gave 400 bottles of nail polish, and John Paul Mitchell Systems in Santa Clarita gave 400 bottles of hair products. This support helps build a sense of community within the firm, and makes work even more satisfying, said Lenelle Duecker, senior vice president at USI. “Besides making some families’ holidays brighter this season, we are honored to support our Police Division in presenting that positive aspect of their goals in serving and supporting the Valley. They are great role models,” she said. Corporate Giving Volunteers from Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Navigation Systems Division recently delivered grocery certificates and presents to 40 disadvantaged families in the local community as part of the company’s annual holiday outreach efforts. Northrop Grumman’s Adopt-A-Family organization, which coordinated the outreach effort, also donated 50 presents to the West Valley Boys & Girls Club. Almost 700 disadvantaged families have received gifts from volunteers over the 19 years that the company’s Adopt-A-Family program has been in operation. The program’s mission is to help needy families in the San Fernando Valley. “Community outreach is an important part of our corporate culture at Northrop Grumman,” said Jim Myers, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division. “The Adopt-A-Family organization is a perfect example of our commitment to being a good neighborhood partner.” Donation Instead of Party Choosing to forgo the traditional company holiday party, PricewaterhouseCoopers is again redirecting funds that would have been used for the celebration, towards charity. In Los Angeles PwC is choosing to support two agencies: Women’s Care Cottage, which provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for families that are displaced to lost jobs and income; and Bresee Foundation, a nonprofit community center that helps low-income youth, adults and families. Nationally, PwC is redirecting $1.55 million to charity that had been earmarked for holiday parties this season and employees are enthusiastically embracing the concept. “When PwC decided last year to forgo internal holiday celebrations and instead to make donations to those who truly needed some extra support during the holiday season, we were overwhelmed by the positive response we got from our communities, but also by our people,” said Shannon Schuyler, US corporate responsibility leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The holiday season is traditionally a time for giving and that giving is even more special when it helps families get shelter and share a warm meal together or enables a homeless child to have a cherished toy. Our people feel that we are providing money but also hope as we head into the New Year.”

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