Making A Difference in Your Community : Helping Kids Goal of 2 Men at New Charity

The apparent assets of the Child Support Recovery Foundation are a simple office in Burbank, a phone, a fax machine and two men who want to help kids.

“We’re everything from janitors to executives,” said Charles Semple, development director for the two-man organization.

He met the other half of the foundation, administrator Dennis Kennedy, by chance in North Hollywood last year.

While waiting for separate meetings, they struck up a conversation, and Kennedy outlined his ideas for a group that would help a single parent with custody of children collect child support from the absentee parent.

Semple, retired from industrial marketing, joined Kennedy, and together they worked through the maze of paperwork to set up a charity. They received federal and state status this summer.

“It’s an acceptable fact now to not pay child support,” said Kennedy, a bill collector for 25 years who now works as a consultant. He wanted to start the charity because of the many single mothers he had run across who were unable to pay bills because they were not getting their child support payments.

“I guess I’m just a sucker for people who need help,” said Kennedy, who has put $20,000 of his own money into the venture. Although easily mistaken as a bill collection agency, what Kennedy and Semple offer is advice for parents on how they can recover unpaid child support.

Most may rely merely on filing a claim with the District Attorney’s Office, but that can take years to get results, Kennedy said. That is not the only way, he said. Parents can also hire their own attorney, but that can be expensive, and many do not know how to go about getting the right attorney.

“A lot of people really don’t know what is happening around them,” Semple said.

Kennedy said he can help parents find lawyers willing to work pro bono or at reduced rates.

He said he also has come across the powerful emotions that child support can bring up by way of the information superhighway. When he placed a posting on the Prodigy computer on-line service, he was immediately blasted as a “do-gooder,” just out to get money for ex-wives. Several women on the service came to his defense, he said.

But the issue is really about helping children, he said. “I see a need out there,” said Kennedy, who also recognizes that not all custodial parents are women. “Our objective is helping kids.” The foundation also needs volunteers to help with fund raising and to work in the office answering phones and interviewing potential clients. The foundation is holding its first fund-raiser Dec. 2 in Universal City. For more information, call the foundation at (818) 841-2905.

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The 4-H After School Activity Program needs volunteers for a new program starting Dec. 1 at Pacoima Elementary School. The program helps children age 7 to 13 who live in or near public housing communities by building self-confidence with nutritional education, arts and crafts, help with homework or science experiments, creative writing, book-binding, as well as recreation and such fund-raising activities as car washes to pay for trips to zoos or amusement parks. The group meets Mondays through Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m. For more information, call Katherine Crow at (213) 744-5138 or (213) 744-5139.

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Goodwill Industries of Southern California is seeking male and female volunteers ages 18 to 70 to model authentic antique fashions that date back as far as the 1860s. The style shows are held at major hotels, country clubs and churches to benefit the non-profit agency, which provides rehabilitation and job training and placement for people with physical and mental disabilities. Shows are held on weekdays as well as weekends. For information call Beryl Panza or Cathy Hoyt at (213) 223-1211, Ext. 229 or 230.

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Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.