CANOGA PARK : Youth Program Gets $22,000 Donation

The Canoga Park youth program Keep Youth Doing Something, which nearly folded earlier this year, has received the largest grant in its history from The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation.

Robert Irmas, son of the lawyer and investor who established the foundation, said he, his brother, Matthew Irmas, and Matthew Irmas’ wife Deborah, made the $22,000 donation to pay for equipment, uniforms and umpires for the KYDS program through 1994.

The contribution “combines two things I hold near and dear to my heart--that’s baseball and kids,” he said. “If I can combine the two, I’m happy to do it.”

Irmas made the contribution at the behest of City Councilwoman Laura Chick.

“Laura just wanted to show the public she is committed to seeing the KYDS program continue,” said Chick spokesman Eric Rose.

KYDS, which organizes Friday night baseball games for teen-agers in troubled neighborhoods of Canoga Park, Pacoima and Reseda, faced a fiscal crisis last fall when the $40,000 grant used to start it two years ago ran out.

Some KYDS organizers said Chick was partially to blame for the problem. Unlike her predecessor, Joy Picus, Chick has said she wanted the program to function independently. Rose said Chick solicited the Irmas grant to make sure that KYDS could continue without support from her office.

KYDS has also been bolstered by a recent $15,000 grant from the Amateur Athletic Foundation. Program Director Sandy Kievman said the program is now in good shape financially.

“It all happened so fast. That shows how badly it’s needed,” she said.