The Los Angeles Charitable Stroke Fund The Los Angeles Charitable Stroke Fund has a very important mission backed by a very down-home purpose of warmth and caring. Founders Dr. George and Nancy Rappard, of the Los Angeles Brain and Spine Institute, offered the following mission statement: "The Los Angeles Charitable Stroke Fund was established to enhance access to comprehensive stroke care. The Fund is guided by the principle that excellence in stroke care can be achieved at the community setting, reducing barriers to care. The Fund will support community stroke education, provide community-based resources for stroke victims, and assist local institutions in providing wider access to stroke care." The Rappards are a shining example of people raised in our community, doing good in our community, and wanting to give back to our community. Dr. and Mrs. Rappard established their fund in 2009, the first new fund under the Community Foundation of the Verdugo's new name, and also, the first fund to service a unique, but vital and underserved, healthcare need in our region. Nancy has been active in the community for some time and currently serves as President of the La Canada Junior Women's Club. She is also a member of the National Charity League, serves as a volunteer at Palm Crest Elementary, and is also involved with fundraising events for the La Canada Educational Foundation. She also finds time to manage George's busy practice on Verdugo Boulevard while also juggling the demands of raising their three children: Kate, Jack, and William. In her early years, Nancy was an elementary school teacher, earning her Master's in Education from Marymount University in Virginia. George grew up on Beulah Drive in La Canada, graduating from La Canada High School's Class of 1984. After serving our country in the Navy, George attended PCC, UCLA, and Medical School at George Washington in D.C. Eight years of intensive training after medical school resulted in George becoming a NeuroInterventional Surgeon with primary practice at Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC). As a feather in our community's hat, George established, at GAMC, the first non-university NeuroInterventional Surgery Program in Los Angeles, specializing in the minimally invasive surgery of the brain and spine, and in the critical care of the neurological patient. "Nancy and I created the Los Angeles Charitable Stroke Fund because we saw a need for community outreach to promote stroke prevention, education, and care," said George, adding that stroke is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and is the third leading cause of death. "Our community, thanks to Glendale Adventist Medical Center, is one of the leading centers in the nation for the treatment and prevention of stroke," he continued. "Working at a great hospital is not enough though. Our goal is to support programs that hopefully can lead to the prevention of stroke, enhanced timeliness of treatment, and improved care for the acute stroke or recovering stroke patient." Specifically, the Rappards aim to support a community-based preventive education program. As outlined by Nancy, this may include a speaker series or a series of health fairs. "Also, we would support programs that address the long term care of patients that have suffered from stroke, including, but not limited to, providing necessary assistance items such as walkers and wheelchairs, and support groups for survivors," she said. "Lastly, fundraising efforts may directly benefit those on the frontlines of acute stroke care …. our hospitals," George summarized. This project and the goals established are meaningful to the Rappards because they have dedicated their lives to treating those who suffer from stroke. It is their hope that through their fund with the Foundation, it will allow those who may have similar experiences, or those who may have had their lives affected by stroke, or anyone who shares the Rappards' passion for whatever reason, to channel their resources and make a difference.

Christopher A. Burrows Memorial Scholarship Fund The Christopher A. Burrows Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in memory of Christopher A. Burrows, a 1976 graduate of Crescenta Valley High School and La Cañada resident, who passed away January 9, 1999, from a malignant brain tumor. Chris Burrows was an attorney, active community volunteer, a loving husband and father of four, and devoted friend who encouraged young and old alike. The founders of this endowed fund did so with the intent that its scholarships be prestigious awards for students in the Crescenta-Cañada Valley. Burrows Scholars must demonstrate a high level of academic and extra-curricular achievement, strength of character, and zest for life. A former student body president and outstanding athlete, musician, and scholar at Crescenta Valley High School, Chris will long be remembered by his family and the many friends he made during his life. According to neighbor and close friend Tim McQuay, "Chris was a devoted and loving husband and father and a great, loyal friend." The Christopher A. Burrows Memorial Scholarship Fund provides a fitting legacy for an exceptional man who died too young, but whose footprint has been left as a model for youth in the Crescenta-Canada Valley to follow.

Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Educational Endowment Fund This endowed fund was created by local resident Mary Pinola in 2002 following the 14th annual Smart-A-Thon. The earnings from the fund are used to make grants to nonprofit agencies in the Crescenta Valley. A selection committee, including members of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, advises the Community Foundation of the Verdugos of worthy causes, needs and issues. In this way the Community Foundation can enact Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Educational Endowment Fund grants (which are separate from those issued by the Community Foundation itself). [Click here to learn more about the Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Fund.] The Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Educational Endowment Fund also now encompasses the RENEE (Remedial Education Needs Empathetic Endeavors) Grant. Renee Riendeau initially established the RENEE donor-advised fund with the Foundation upon her retirement. She had spent years as a special education needs examiner for the Glendale Unified School District and been instrumental in organizing swim programs for special needs students at the AAF Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Riendeau says, "Upon my retirement from the District, I received quite a sum of money from friends at a going-away party. But I just couldn't keep the money for myself." Instead, she parlayed it with some of her own monies to create the Remedial Education Needs Empathetic Endeavors (RENEE) Fund. "I knew that the Community Foundation of the Verdugos has been helping donors realize philanthropic dreams for many years and felt I could entrust the creation of my fund with them." Her fund's purpose was intended to offer small scholarships for 'life lessons' to learning disabled children who had experienced unfortunate and tragic situations. Several years ago, in order to create greater impact, the RENEE Fund was consolidated to become one of the grant awards under the Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Educational Fund which still fulfills Riendeau's intent of assisting learning disabled children, but with the added outreach to the entire Verdugo region.

Dr. Thomas J. Iberti Memorial Fund Dr. Iberti grew up in Glendale and became an internationally known doctor. He was the director of Intensive Care as well as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City until his untimely death in 1993. During his lifetime he would often use his rare off-time to help the homeless in New York. This fund is dedicated to a special interest in issues relating to children, women and the homeless.

G.J. Liotta Honorary Fund Mr. Liotta spent 40 years at Toll Middle School teaching 8th grade science and 9th grade photography from 1945 to 1960 and served as Assistant Principal from 1960 to 1985. At his retirement party in 1985, Mr. Liotta received monetary gifts which he chose to use to disburse annually to one of Toll's academic departments, chosen randomly. Once all departments had received a gift, the process began again. The G.J. Liotta Honorary Fund was established to perpetuate this annual award. The selection of each year's winning department will continue to be selected randomly so as to be a surprise for the department head. In addition, the G.J. Liotta Service Award is presented to an 8th grade student at Toll's annual commencement exercises every year. The award was established in the 1970s by the Toll PTA to recognize a student who performed voluntary service to the school. The winning student is chosen by the school's assistant principals and counselors and receives a gift certificate.

Dr. John and Mae Benjamin Endowed Scholarship Fund Dr. John Benjamin was an internationally prominent urologist. Mrs. Benjamin, upon explaining why she set up this fund, said, "My husband lived on an L.A. County farm while he worked his way through UCLA. He had to take a street car to college every day. From there, he had eight years of medical school and residency and came out deeply in debt. He worked so hard to get through school that I wanted this fund to help others pursue their medical dreams." This fund is awarded to one medical or pre-medical student a year with money designated toward tuition.

Glendale Scholarship Endowment Fund Past President of the Glendale Unified School District Board and founder of the Glendale Scholarship Fund, Chuck Sambar is a shining example of "giving back." In Sambar's words, "The United States is known around the world for its great educational system. And Glendale has always excelled in its preparation of our students. After four decades in Glendale education, I find that many students leave our schools prepared to continue their education but may be at a loss to do so because of financial constraints. So I started the Glendale Scholarship Endowment Fund with the Glendale Community Foundation [now the Community Foundation of the Verdugos] to ensure a perpetual supply of money for tomorrow's students." And as the saying "if you build it they will come" goes, this held true with the Glendale Scholarship Endowment Fund once it was established by Chuck and his wife Lois. Marilyn Wiechmann and Dick Seeley, for example, decided to contribute toward the fund through proceeds raised from their "Giggles Dance Nights". Edmond and Garnik Galoostian also wanted to help and began donating the use of their Brand Blvd. business for "Giggles Dance Nights" as a safe and secure place for local high school students to gather. Together the four of them put in motion the means by which as many as 1,500 kids a year enjoyed a night of dancing, pizza, soda and pool for a $10 admission cost. When area students began dancing the night away at the Brand Boulevard nightclub they could never have imagined that they would be helping future area students, too! But that's exactly what they ended up doing. By selling enough tickets to the periodic Wednesday night student dances, they were able to contribute more than $3,500 to the Glendale Scholarship Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation of the Verdugos. A mixture of students from both public and private high schools in La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, and Glendale have made a permanent mark in their community. "We felt that the kids who have come to the dances over the years would want the profits to be used for other students," said Wiechman. "So, after talking with staff of the Community Foundation, we found that Chuck Sambar had started an endowed scholarship fund that would provide a steady stream of earnings for future kids. And we liked that these scholarships would be for either college or vocational students." Seeley added, "The history of the Community Foundation gave us peace of mind that the money will be well used for many years to come."

Irvin Dinley / Daniel Samaniego Endowment Fund "Irvin never went to college," says Daniel. "But he has always wanted to help others to have the education opportunities that he didn't have." Daniel, too, has sought to help others, spending much of his career with the Employment Development Department "finding jobs for people," he says. He feels it's very rewarding to help people help themselves. "Education gives a sense of self-accomplishment, an appreciation of knowledge; and it opens your mind to things you may not have known about," said Daniel. "It feels good that you can affect others' lives and organizations that help people. And in what better way? Students, homeless, and health." The Irvin Dinley / Daniel Samaniego Endowment Fund provides money to help support several colleges, the homeless, spiritual agencies and historical issues.

Helen Gregory Casa Adobe Endowment Fund and Stephen "Buzz" Gregory Endowment Scholarship Fund Long-time resident Helen Gregory passed away in March 2000 leaving a legacy of docent service to the Casa Adobe de San Rafael, one of Glendale's most historic buildings. She wanted to make sure that her legacy carried long into the future and that there was an active community interest in the Casa and the early Spanish heritage of the city of Glendale. Mrs. Gregory also wanted to memorialize her son "Buzz" who lost his life prematurely. Buzz was a race car driver. To accomplish all these things she created this fund to support the creation and maintenance of a docent training program for Casa Adobe De San Rafael and to assist local students in the racing profession. The intent of this gift is to maintain an active community interest in the Casa Adobe de San Rafael, and the early Spanish heritage of the city of Glendale, by helping fund such programs as efforts to educate the public about the history of the adobe and the training and consuming of tour docents at the site of the casa. And this fund also provides help to youth like her son.

Ruth G. Jansen Education Memorial Fund When Ruth Jansen passed away in 1987 many of her friends with the help of the California Arts Educators Association created the Ruth Jansen Foundation. Among the local residents who have served on the Board of Directors over the years are Glendalians John and Audrey Welch as well as Jackie and Mari Carlos. According to Audrey, "Since Ruth's life-long passion was helping students understand art, one of the primary goals of the Foundation was to help local art students." "But her main career was instructing teachers so each year we also commission three unique art works and present them along with cash awards to the outstanding art teachers in Northern, Central and Southern California. In this way, Ruth's passion for art influences many generations of artists," said Audrey. Her contribution is also felt locally with a distribution to Glendale area students for Art Excellence who receive gift certificates from Swain's art store.

Jim and Betty Bishop Endowment Fund Jim and Betty Bishop have long been champions for local youth and their sporting activities. In addition to being the head of Glendale's Parks and Recreation Department for decades, Jim taught, coached and supervised scores of youth sports. Betty has had a lifelong interest in children, spending several years teaching daycare and working at Glendale Community College and Balboa Elementary School. The Bishops established this fund to foster and improve sporting activities for children throughout the Southland. Jim, a former professional baseball player, says, "I think athletics influence both the body and the mind. Sure, it builds strong physiques but it also teaches teamwork, cooperation and compromise."

Rachel & Eric Ashton, Jr. Fund Local attorney and former Community Foundation Board Member Eric Ashton and his wife Rachel established this family donor-advised fund for general purposes. Already, the Ashtons have made a grant to Child SHARE to help recruit, train, and prepare foster families, and to Camp Max Strauss for children who have social, physical, and/or emotional disabilities and come from foster or one-parent family homes. "My parents have had a donor-advised fund for several years and I have noticed how it can make giving both convenient and effective," said Ashton. "My involvement with the Community Foundation has given my wife and me an opportunity to learn about agencies and grant opportunities that would not come to our attention otherwise."

Glendale Host Lions Club Fund Upon the demise of this venerable Lions Club, the members decided to establish a fund with the Community Foundation to benefit seven specific agencies that they had been contributing to for many years. In this way their important work will not come to a close.

Hughes Family Fund The Paul A. Hughes Foundation, a private foundation created in 2000 upon the passing of a major principal of the family-owned Hughes Markets Company, established a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation of the Verdugos in 2002. Teresa Hughes Velona, director of the Hughes Foundation said, "My father wanted us to carry on and support the Glendale-area that he loved for the majority of his life. We felt that the ability of the Community Foundation's staff to advise us of philanthropic opportunities in our own community would help us make strategic grants and really help people."

Linda Weeshoff Memorial Character & Ethics Fund Prior to her passing late in 2002, former Glendale Unified teacher Linda Weeshoff, had long been interested in improving the character and ethics of local children. She taught in the district for many years at Cerritos, Keppel, and Marshall elementary schools and impacted thousands of young lives. So, after 32 years of marriage, Dave Weeshoff sought a way to not only have her remembered in the community, but to continue the contributions she made to Glendale's youth. In her memory, he created the Linda Weeshoff Memorial Character and Ethics Fund to support programs, efforts, and opportunities which encourage such traits as honesty, integrity, and punctuality. "Linda really believed in the legacy that adults give to children which enable them to go out in the world as productive, honorable citizens. Anything that fosters and encourages those traits could be candidates for grants from this fund," said Weeshoff. As an endowed donor-advised fund, it will generate earnings year after year.

Shirley & Joel Youngquist Nursing Scholarship Fund Former Glendale Community College (GCC) Economics Professor Joel Younquist and his wife Shirley, the first woman GCC Student Body President, established an endowed scholarship fund in 2002 to benefit nursing students at the College. The Shirley and Joel Younquist Fund provides one annual $1,000 scholarship to a student in the nursing program at GCC. Students are evaluated on the basis of financial need, a goal of at least an AA degree in nursing, and residency in Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, or Verdugo City for the past three years. No specific GPA is required and students may be eligible to renew the scholarship. Joel said, "The ties between our family, the College, and the nursing profession made it natural for us to want to help future students. We felt that the Community Foundation's endowed scholarship program would be an easy way to perpetuate that assistance."

Stephen Bache Family Fund Created to acknowledge "noblesse oblige" (the obligation of those who are in a position to do so to be honorable, generous, and responsible to others), this fund has been used for general purposes. Stephen Bache said, of his reasons for establishing his fund, "I want to leave a legacy of my fifteen years in Glendale and the Verdugo area and my multiple terms on the Foundation's Board of Directors." While he has not fully decided on the fund's purpose, Stephen is leaning towards support for art programs such as The Alex Theater and Glendale Arts which he has greatly enjoyed in the past. In working with the Community Foundation he hopes to build the Bache Fund into a fully endowed fund.

Barnes Family Fund This fund consists of what used to be the Thomas Eli & Jessie V. Barnes Fund, Oliver C. & Minnie Bell Logan Fund, and the Cecilia and Herman Barnes Endowment Fund and continues the giving of this thriving and generous family. Tom Barnes established both the Thomas Eli & Jessie V. Barnes Fund and the Oliver C. & Minnie Bell Logan Fund in memory of his grandparents. The fund is endowed so that only the earnings are to be used to make general interest grants in the greater Verdugo area. Mr. Logan was a community activist, most notably in opposition of parking meters in the early days of our community. Mrs. Logan supported efforts to help young, unwed mothers. Cecilia and Herman Barnes' son Tom and grandson Bradley decided that there should be an endowment fund established for this pioneering couple so they created the Cecilia and Herman Barnes Endowment Fund. For decades, they were instrumental in the fabric of local, social, philanthropic, and business life in Glendale. Cecilia, for examples, was born in Glendale, the daughter of parents who began their early 1900s career as merchants in the Tropico section of Southern Glendale and founded one of the first banks in town. "Cece" and her husband "Herm" followed in these entrepreneurial steps by founding the Herman E. Barnes Company & Insurance Agency. Herman even served as President of the Community Foundation at one point. According to longtime friend Jim Bishop (also a past board member), "They were both very generous to our community. In fact, Herm, as the mayor, founded the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast which continues even today."

Legacy Fund (Formerly the Emeritus Board Rescue Fund) When this fund was started in 2002 by the Emeritus Community Foundation Board, now known as the Legacy Committee, its purpose was to "keep a hand" in the grant-making activities of the Community Foundation. It is designed to have the Fund's earnings "come to the rescue" of a project, proposal or opportunity that is coming up just a little bit short of funding.