On the Town: Members of Las Candelas toast to year’s accomplishments
The women’s philanthropic group Las Candelas celebrated a year’s worth of achievements recently during a holiday party at a private club in Pasadena.
After a one-hour reception, a seasonal three-course dinner consisting of butternut squash soup, tenderloin of beef and filet of salmon followed by sticky toffee pudding, was enjoyed by more than 50 members and guests.
Las Candelas was organized in 1953 and incorporated in 1955. Its mission is to give volunteer service and financial assistance to help improve the lives of children and youth in vulnerable situations and to support awareness of their mental-health needs.
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Ellyn Semler, the group’s president, thanked the women for the many philanthropic projects they completed during 2016, including providing monthly educational programs for residential students at Hathaway-Sycamores in Altadena and Hillsides in Pasadena, and most recently, wrapping hundreds of Christmas presents for the young clients of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Glendale.
Support is also given to Ascencia homeless services and the Glendale YWCA’s domestic violence program.
To raise funds for all these projects, members are now putting the finishing touches on their biennial fundraiser — a luncheon and fashion show — scheduled for March 6 at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel.
Committee members have chosen a romantic theme. “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” for the event, which will feature elegant fashions by designer Lourdes Chavez.
The reception will offer a boutique of clothing and accessory vendors at 10 a.m., followed by the luncheon and fashion show at 11:45 a.m. Opportunity and special-drawing prizes will include a $3,000 shopping extravaganza at South Coast Plaza and a three-night getaway at the Hard Rock Hotel in Palm Springs valued at $1,500.
Chairing the event are JC Byer and Pattie McCormick, and they are expecting more than 600 guests.
For more information, call Cathy Keen, press chair, at (818) 240-2442.
Campbell Center receives $60,000 donation
The Campbell Center has received a gift of $60,000 from the S. Mark Taper Foundation for operating expenses.
The donation will allow the nonprofit center to continue providing job-skills training for its clients who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. On a daily basis, the center helps more than 125 clients realize their abilities to seek gainful employment.
“Gifts such as this are crucial to organizations like the Campbell Center as they allow us to ensure that our programs and services remain available to our clients throughout their tenure here,” said Wendy Jacoby, president of the Campbell Center’s board.
Glendale Girl Scout earns science award
Jayleen Ramos, a Glendale Girl Scout, received an honorable mention and a $1,500 scholarship from the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles for leading a service project that addressed the global need to increase girls’ access to education.
The program was implemented through a partnership with Students Stand with Malala, a project of the Malala Fund that protects the right of all young adults to complete high school. It is named for Malala Yousafzai, who was wounded when Taliban gunmen opened fire on a school bus in which she and her friends were riding in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. She is an advocate for education for girls around the world.
The scholarship opportunity required girls in 11th and 12th grades to develop and implement a Girl Scout Global Action Award project to provide girls with the opportunity to address the challenges associated with and the specific root cause of barriers to access to education for girls.
Jayleen coached the first Lego League all-girl robotics team. She focused her efforts on an all-girl team to encourage each girl to learn and lead in team-tasking, which is often done by boys on coed teams.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce100@gmail.com.