THOUSAND OAKS : Cancer Support Group Plans Move

The Wellness Community will move to Thousand Oaks and expand its services for cancer patients and their families, thanks to an anonymous donor who offered to provide the charitable organization with nearly free rent for the next five years.

The donor offered a 4,300-square-foot building at Townsgate and Hampshire roads for a dollar a year, a spokesman for the Wellness Community, which now pays monthly rent of $5,000--a substantial portion of its $286,000 annual budget--for a smaller facility in Westlake Village.

“We are overwhelmed with this individual’s generosity,” said Don French, president of The Wellness Community, Valley/Ventura. “Now, a greater proportion of our revenues will go directly into providing the necessary programs, rather than into administrative overhead.”

The Wellness Community provides social and emotional support programs for adults with cancer and their families. Affiliated with 15 other branches across the country, the Wellness Community offers the services free of charge and relies entirely on charitable donations to run its center, said Jim Dean, Valley/Ventura development director.

With the money saved, the center can offer more support services and establish a Wellness Connection, a network that allows patients who are in remission to stay in touch with the community, Dean said. The organization plans to move by Aug. 1, Dean said. He said renovations on the now empty office space will cost about $50,000, for which donations are now being accepted.

Until the new facility opens, the center will continue to operate in its current offices at 5655 Lindero Canyon Road, Suite 104. For more information, call (818) 597--9777.