He Maintains Healthy View of Discards

Tucked among cases of bandages, diapers, gauze and laser equipment in Glendale Memorial Hospital’s storage warehouse stands a bin stacked high with computer parts--screens, keyboards and an occasional mouse, tossed together like a high-tech salad. The computers, as well as canned foods and bags of clothing stored nearby, await delivery to a downtown mission.

Dwayne Ennis, the hospital’s warehouse manager, cringes when he recalls the era when the hospital’s obsolete equipment was sold to salvage companies, or worse, ended up in a local landfill. Today, everything from soap dispensers to patient beds must undergo his scrutiny so he can determine whether they might enjoy a second life at the Union Rescue Mission.

“The hospital used to throw this stuff away. It was shocking,” Ennis, 34, said. “The new administration listened to me when I said these things should be donated to the mission. Those folks desperately needed it. In fact, they haven’t said no yet.”

Mission employees wouldn’t dream of turning down Ennis, who first contacted them two years ago when the hospital decided to switch soaps, leaving cases of expensive lanolin bars destined for the garbage bin. Unwilling to throw the cleansing products away, he got permission to offer them to the mission, which gratefully accepted them.

“Dwayne has a service heart. He’s always thinking of how to help us,” said Maria Berkey, who coordinates donations to the mission. “He’s a real special guy who somehow gets others involved too.”

The hospital’s administration agrees.

“He goes the extra mile to give to the community. We’re glad to be a part of it,” said Bruce Weinstein, director of material management at Glendale Memorial.

Ennis, a nine-year employee of the hospital, was awakened to the benefit of donating medical supplies seven years ago when an African colleague asked him if the hospital could spare any surplus items, such as saline solutions, that he could send to his village.

The hospital approved the donation, and Ennis, along with several doctors, have since responded on several occasions to natural disasters in foreign countries by shipping medical supplies.

Then two years ago, Ennis hooked up with Berkey, who has accepted countless computers, typewriters, beds, clothing and food items that Ennis collects and delivers to the mission year-round.

Ennis, who jokes about resembling a linebacker, credits his mother and grandmother with instilling in him a strong sense of community.

“I’m a people person who was taught to take responsibility for things,” the Glendale resident said. “I’m an imposing-looking guy and I like to beat the stereotype. I just hope some good comes out of the effort.”

The divorced community activist, who graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1981, also attended Santa Monica City College and ITT Technical Institute in Sylmar. He held a number of jobs, including manager of a pizza parlor, before taking the hospital position in 1989.

Ennis shrugs off any suggestion that his effort on behalf of the needy is in any way special.

“I like helping people and knowing that this stuff is going to good use. In order to fit into the human race, we all need to contribute.”