Through a dedicated fundraising effort and despite the pandemic, the La Cañada Junior Women’s Club presented a $3,500 check to Mending Kids, their designated philanthropy, raising their total annual contribution to $4,500.

Aimed at providing life-saving surgical care to children, the Mending Kids non-profit organization is based in Los Angeles and deploys medical teams worldwide while educating communities to become medically self-sustaining. During the pandemic, Mending Kids expanded its services by donating and delivering vitally-needed PPE and medical supplies to frontline workers throughout the greater Los Angeles area, including 29 different national and international organizations.

La Cañada Junior Women’s Club President Trish McRae said, “We are excited about furthering the great work by Mending Kids. The Juniors are all about helping women and children in need while igniting sisterhood, camaraderie and friendship within the club. The future looks bright as we all work together to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Mending Kids Executive Director Isabelle Fox said, “We are thrilled about the donation! It enables us to move forward with such programs as the Hometown Mission, and our programs in general, which help so many children and families locally while shining a light on health disparity. It’s a domino effect really. When [children] get healthy, they are able to focus on learning. Resources open up, and a parent is able to concentrate on such things as employment affording them time to elevate their standard of living, and resetting them on a course to dream of better things.”

To help accelerate their work, Mending Kids is conducting a “Hike2Mend” event on Oct. 16 starting at Griffith Park, Los Angeles; a person may also join virtually from wherever they are located. The La Cañada Junior Women’s Club has stepped up and put together a group to help raise funds while encouraging members to get outdoors for health and well-being. Members hope the group effort will symbolically honor the journey a parent takes to gain access to surgical care for their child.

For more information or to participate in the “Hike2Mend” event, visit Events.mendingkids.org.

Local residents who are interested in getting more information about the Juniors, a group composed of dedicated, dynamic women interested in philanthropy, fun and friendship, can email the president at trishlcjwc@gmail.com or visit lcjwclub.org.