Local charities, including 12 Oaks Retirement Lodge in La Crescenta, benefitted from fundraising efforts by National Charity League Glendale. On May 19, NCL Glendale donated $30,000 to 12 Oaks Retirement Lodge to provide financial assistance to needy seniors so they can remain in their “home” at 12 Oaks.

“We’ve been committed to helping the needy elderly since we began in 1951,” explained incoming president Debbie Cox. “The residents at 12 Oaks are our friends as our daughters visit them regularly and we love to help our friends in need.”

Habitat for Humanity’s San Gabriel Chapter also received a donation. The chapter received $4,000 to buy needed tools for its first certified “green” build at 624-630 Geneva St. in Glendale.

“Habitat for Humanity is an amazing organization. We are honored our girls volunteer for Habitat and we are very happy to help them with this cutting edge environmental project,” said Ways and Means VP Cindy Bengtson Budzyn.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center’s Play to Learn Center for Pediatric Therapy was given $4,300 to purchase computer and video equipment enabling them to introduce two important new therapy programs for children and families with special needs.

According to Dr. Traci Jones Martinez, director of the Play to Learn Center, “The Hanen Program will facilitate communication for young children who have speech delays. Parents participate in individual and classroom training, including videotaping and assessment of parent and child interactions. The second program, Constraint Induced Therapy, is intensive treatment for children with hemiplegia, weakness in one arm caused by a neurological insult such as cerebral palsy.  Videotaping the child’s activities is essential for measuring progress. This generous donation allows us to purchase the equipment necessary to provide these services.”

The Glendale YWCA was also awarded $5,400 to provide scholarships for four children from the Y’s domestic violence shelter to attend the Y’s all day summer camp this year.

The recipients were not the only ones happy with the distribution.

“Giving money away is the best part of our jobs,” said NCL, Inc. Glendale Ways and Means VP Cindy Bengtson Budzyn and Philanthropy V. P. Inez Fraser.

For more than 50 years, National Charity League has thrived as one of the nation’s most distinctive and well-respected mother-daughter membership organizations.

  Between Friends, JUNE 09, NCL