Program Aids Jimmy at Key Stage in Life

The 11-year-old knows what he wants to do when he grows up.

“One day I would like to write a play about my life,” says Jimmy.

There would be quite a story to tell, knows the pensive little boy who has lived for the last two years at Hollygrove children’s home in Hollywood, one of the recipients this year of support from the Holiday Campaign of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund.

Serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, the agencies helped by the holiday campaign provide a range of services for children and youth, including aid for mentally and physically disabled children and programs to prevent drug abuse and violence.

Jimmy is not his real name--the courts will not allow it to be printed. That’s because a judge ordered that the fatherless boy, raised by a drug-addicted mother, be placed in the custody of the 120-year-old onetime orphanage.

Jimmy was fearful and suspicious when he arrived at Hollygrove.

“He didn’t say anything to anybody for a long time,” recalls Mary Brougher, an administrator at the home. “He’d been through so much that he didn’t trust anybody.”

That painful stage of his life ended when the boy took to the real stage.

A new performing arts program financed by donations to the children’s home was launched a few months after the boy’s arrival. Jimmy shyly watched from the sidelines as two dozen other youngsters began learning about acting, costume-making and scenery-painting.

“Jimmy was hardly noticeable in the beginning. He was not just shy; he really faded into the woodwork,” said David Barge, the home’s performing arts director. “He’d hang around when I brought out the sound equipment and gradually he asked questions about which plug went where.”

On performance day, Jimmy volunteered to hand out programs. “He asked if he could wear a costume when he did it. He came out for the curtain call and took a bow as a stagehand. It was adorable,” Barge said. “He was gradually feeling secure about himself.”

Jimmy decided to act in the next show. Barge and volunteer experts coached and encouraged him.

“He didn’t just emerge from his shell; he blasted out,” Barge said. “It was like someone had taken a veil off his head. He was animated, articulate. He was wonderful.”

During the summer, Jimmy received an acting-class scholarship at the Lee Strassberg Institute.

Hollygrove’s performing arts program costs about $80,000 a year--an expense that is not covered by fees paid by Los Angeles County to support the 68 children who live there, said Judy Nelson, the home’s president.

“It’s a minimal program--we’re able to do three musicals a year now. We could impact more children if we had more funding.”

Jimmy said he would like to see the performance program grow “so there will be better actors in the world.” And better adults.

The Los Angeles Times Family Fund contributed $7,100 in July to Hollygrove. That came from the $35,787 the holiday appeal and matching funds from the McCormick Tribune Foundation raised last year for five charities in the five-county Southern California region.

The Holiday Campaign was established last year after the Los Angeles Times merged with Tribune Co. It is a part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, which includes The Times’ long-running Summer Camp Program.

The McCormick Tribune Foundation will match the first $500,000 in donations at 50 cents on the dollar, and the Los Angeles Times will absorb all administrative costs for the campaign.

HOW TO GIVE:

Donations (checks or money orders) supporting the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File #56491, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6491. Please do not send cash. Credit card donations can be made on The Times’ Web site (https://www.latimes.com/holidaycampaign). All donations are tax deductible. Contributions of $25 or more will be acknowledged in the Los Angeles Times unless a donor requests otherwise. For more information about the Holiday Campaign, call (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75480.