SYLMAR : Foundation Awards $51,277 to 3 Agencies

A Sylmar-based youth organization is one of three San Fernando Valley agencies that will enhance its sports programs for troubled youths thanks to grants totaling $51,277 from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.

Hathaway Children’s Services in Sylmar received $17,162, while Rancho San Antonio in Chatsworth received $17,350, and Pacific Lodge Boys Home in Woodland Hills received $16,765. All three provide activities and housing for youths on probation and for foster children.

Gail Guglielmino, director of development at Hathaway Children’s Services, said the money will be used to help repair and upgrade the gymnasium at the residential campus in Angeles National Forest. It provides activities for about 120 youths.

“We’re thrilled, of course,” Guglielmino said. “Our athletic facilities are very important to us. Most of these children come from very chaotic backgrounds. It’s a way for them to participate and learn teamwork and develop confidence.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Maureen Bond, athletic program director of Pacific Lodge Boys Home.

“We’ll be able to do some activities we haven’t been able to do in the last year or two,” she said. One project will be renovation of the track, which “has been in such bad shape we haven’t been able to use it.”

Bond said the money will also be used to purchase basketball and softball uniforms and build a scoreboard for the 200 youths who live at the home throughout the year.

At Rancho San Antonio, which serves 102 youths, the funding will help resurface the gym floor, and provide new basketball backboards and a new pool cover, said Dennis Petrie, program director.

The Valley organizations are among 32 groups that received a share of the $500,739 awarded Monday to Southern California youth organizations by the foundation, which is endowed with California’s share of the surplus from the 1984 Olympic Games. It has invested more than $50 million toward providing sports activities for Southern California youngsters since its inception.