By Isaac SIMS-FOSTER, intern

Since 2010, the Fire House youth center has served the La Crescenta community as a place for teenagers to recreate, relax and be themselves before and after school. To support their efforts, on Saturday, July 14, the Crescenta-Cañada Lions Club presented the Fire House with a check for $1700. The funds came from a fundraiser held one month earlier that was hosted by the Lions Club. Mary O’Keefe, one of the founders of the youth center and a writer for CVW, accepted the donation.

Members of the CV Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition, of which O’Keefe was a part, partnered with St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church to create the Fire House to give local kids a place to go.

“The Crescenta-Cañada chapter of the Lions Club

decided to adopt the Fire House in a way,” said Lions Club member Stephen Mack. “Our first effort in that regard was to hold that fundraiser.”

The Fire House holds a number of programs throughout the week to work within a teen’s schedule. These include offering free breakfast on late start days at Rosemont Middle School (Thursday mornings) and student-run activity clubs, hosting a club for children with special needs and engaging with them. These types of events are aligned with the Lions Club and, as a community outreach organization, the Club is willing to support the Fire House through fundraising.

“When the Lions Club was looking for something to involve ourselves with in the community, the Fire House was the natural choice,” added Mack.

  Isaac Sims-Foster, Mary Okeefe