Appreciation for Series on Valley Charities

* The MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity) community would like to thank the Los Angeles Times for running your series “Charities in Need: The Declining Support for Valley Philanthropy.”

Staff writer Doug Smith did an excellent job. We were very favorably impressed with his careful listening, insightful questions, thorough review of the situation and accurate reporting of the crisis that MEND and similar organizations are experiencing.

In many ways the Los Angeles Times has demonstrated to those of us involved with MEND that you are committed to helping the community in which your newspaper does business. For this we are very grateful.

MARIANNE HAVER HILL

Pacoima

Hill is executive director of MEND.