HUNTINGTON BEACH : Anti-Abuse Center Faces Cash Crunch

A child-abuse prevention center, which has expanded steadily since it opened four years ago, might close next month unless it receives more financial support, its director said.

Parent Help USA, founded by Mothers and Others Against Child Abuse, counsels parents to discipline their children without abusing them and provides food and baby formula to needy families.

The nonprofit center serves more than 300 families per year and has a staff of two full-time coordinators and six part-time workers, director Sally Kanarek said.

To meet the booming demand for services, the workers in recent months have concentrated more on counseling and care, and less on fund-raising efforts, Kanarek said.

“We’ve really been stretched lately,” Kanarek said. “And the support we get at Christmas doesn’t extend to the next Christmas.”

In an effort to cut expenses, the center last week moved downstairs from its upper suite on Warner Avenue at Bolsa Chica Boulevard. The move enabled the group to take advantage of a six-month, free-rent incentive offer, Kanarek said.

She said the facility costs between $6,000 and $10,000 per month to operate. About 90% of that goes to services and food, all of which are offered free, she said.

A future source of income for the center arrived this week from Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and part-owner of the Great Western Forum. Buss donated a block of 66 tickets in his private box for an undetermined future concert at the Forum, Kanarek said.

She hopes someone will buy them from the center, perhaps as a company promotion.

“Obviously, that could mean a considerable amount of money,” she said.