Charities

Judy Seckler ARCADIA -- Vons/Pavilions Supermarket eScrip program allows customers to shop and donate funds to the schools and charities of their choice. Schools sign up for the program. Customers register their club card and/or credit cards with the participating store. Every time they shop a contribution is made to the customer's school or children's educational organization of choice. The Glenoaks Elementary School Foundation has joined and profited from its association with the supermarket chain.

GLENDALE — A Glendale-based fundraising company has been named in a state-filed lawsuit that alleges the organization duped donors into giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of a nonexistent program for at-risk youth. The for-profit company, Rambret Inc., reportedly promised donors that their money was going to help run the Law Enforcement Apprenticeship Program, which never saw the light of day, according to the lawsuit filed Friday. Donations were instead used to pay for a 30-foot sailboat, fundraising expenses and the Law Enforcement Apprenticeship Program Foundation director’s personal expenditures, the lawsuit alleges.

Mark R. Madler Tim Behm knows what it's like to have a child in need. The father of seven has a son and daughter with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease of the lungs and stomach. To help other families and children in a similar situation, Behm is donating $1 for every food order Sunday from the six Domino's Pizza restaurants he owns in Burbank and Glendale. The donations are part of a campaign started two years ago by the Wisconsin native. He does it the first Sunday of every month.

Cartoonist Addis Zaryan has been giving away his art work for years, even though people end up paying for it. He's donated art to the Armenian Bone Marrow Registry, the Armenian American National Committee, the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce, Journey for Humanity and the Armenian children's charity, Pyunic Assn. for the Disabled. He displays copies of his work around his Glendale home depicting Armenian men and women in traditional clothing, the ladies with large eyes and pert, cherry mouths.

cars4charities has a unique opportunity for you to get a year-end tax deduction and help one of over 200 respected charities at the same time. Some of the benefiting charities include Breast Cancer Research Foundation, National Foundation of the Blind of California, Autism Speaks, Parkinson Association of the Sacramento Region, a Home Away From Homelessness, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Greater Los Angeles Division. Donate your unwanted car to cars4charities and be eligible for a tax deduction of $500 or what the car is sold for, whichever is greater.

Anyone who donates an unwanted car by Dec. 31 to Cars4Charities and will be eligible for a year-end tax deduction of at least $500. This donation will also help one of over 200 respected charities at the same time. Some of the benefiting charities include: Breast Cancer Research Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention ? Greater Los Angeles Chapter, Teach For America ? Los Angeles Chapter, Simi Valley Hospital Foundation, Autism Speaks ? California Chapter, Camp Fire USA ?

Charities benefit from spree Several local charities are benefiting from a fundraiser called The Giving Spree at the Glendale Galleria. Participating charities are San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity, Child SHARE Program, Glendale College Foundation, Glendale Kiwanis Youth Inc., Glendale Symphony Orchestra, Glendale Youth Alliance, PATH Achieve Glendale, The Glendale Police Foundation, Verdugo Hills Council Boy Scouts of America and YMCA of Glendale. Shoppers can make a donation to their favorite local nonprofit organization on TheGivingSpree.

Gretchen Hoffman One day each month, calls for cheese and crust add up to cash for children's charities. Six Domino's Pizza stores in Glendale and Burbank and one in Calabasas are donating $1 for each order placed on the first day of each month to a selected children's charity. On Aug. 1, owner Tim Behm donated $729 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Los Angeles, and, on Sept. 1, $971 was donated to the Los Angeles Make-A-Wish Foundation.

New lab director at Verdugo Hills NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Verdugo Hills Hospital has hired a new laboratory director. Norma Martin will oversee a staff of 45 employees and is responsible for all of the hospital's laboratory operations, including collection, preservation, processing, testing and reporting of patient samples. Martin has spent most of her years in the medical industry in management positions. She was previously a shift supervisor for the laboratory at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.

Glendale firefighters successfully defended their basketball championship title on Sunday, outscoring police 58-33. A three-point shot from the Glendale Fire Department at the buzzer ended the third annual Hoop Heroes Basketball Championship Game at Glendale High School, officials said. PHOTOS: Glendale Fire vs. Police charity basketball game The event also raised more than $5,000 for the Salvation Army's Zone Academy, according to event chairman Rick Dinger. The after-school program provides tutoring and improves literacy for students ages 8 to 14. More than 200 pounds of canned goods were also donated to the Salvation Army during the basketball game.

Girls and boys, women and men of all ages from near and far descended upon the Glendale Fighting Club on Saturday afternoon to watch Ronda Rousey take center stage. Far removed from the bright lights and big stage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and exactly two weeks removed from her historic title defense of the UFC women's bantamweight championship , Rousey conducted her first-ever mixed-martial-arts clinic, demonstrating some of the knowledge and technique that's made her an unbeaten phenom.

GLENDALE - While the fifth annual Stars Shooting for Hope celebrity basketball game was more about the cause it supported than the final on the scoreboard, it was clear to anyone watching in Hoover High's packed gym that both sides wanted to win. It resulted in the highest scoring game in the history of the annual fixture, which squares off Glendale Unified School District employees and local celebrities - from athletes to actors - to benefit the...

If the Souplantation didn't tickle your taste buds, the "Soup-er Bowl" at Glendale's First Baptist Church was also available this week. On Sunday (Jan. 27), the church opened the first weekend of its annual Missions Festival with plenty of soup ladled out in the church's fellowship room. Association Pastor Matt Andrews gave the blessing on the food. Pastor Charles Updike made sure the soup didn't run out. One of the first in line out of some 120 parishioners present was Glendale resident Helene Capri.

With an ear-splitting roar, hundreds of motorcyclists cruised down San Fernando Road on Sunday morning for the 29th Love Ride. Organizers billed the annual event as the longest continually running motorcycle rally in the country “and maybe the world,” in the words of founder Oliver Shokouh. Shokouh, the owner of Glendale Harley-Davidson, started the event in 1984. Participants began arriving as early as 5:30 a.m., with hundreds on hand by 7:30 a.m. to catch the music of Strawberry Alarm Clock, which delighted the leather-and-tattoo set with the 1960s anthem “Incense and Peppermints.” Those who continued on to the main event in Castaic Lake were treated to performances from George Thorogood & The Destroyers - whose 90-minute set included “Bad to the Bone” and selections from his new album - and Canned Heat.

DreamWorks SKG founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen are each donating $30 million to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, giving a major boost to the fundraising campaign for one of Hollywood's oldest charities. The total commitment of $90 million is part of a campaign launched earlier this year to raise $350 million for the fund and to support its charitable operations, including a nursing home for retired entertainment industry workers that was once slated for closure.

It was a balmy “Evening of Wine and Roses.” Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center celebrated the 25th anniversary of their annual fundraiser. On Oct. 7, more than 600 supporters walked the red carpet toward the hospital's patio under giant, illuminated prop stars for fun and funds for Glendale Memorial's Emergency Department. Last year more than $8.5 million in charity care was provided to those with no insurance. So big money from the guests was the order of the evening. There were plenty of opportunities for supporters to part with their money starting with a $350 per person meal ticket.

National Charity League of Glendale was established in 1942 to provide assistance to needy elderly people. For many years they held fundraisers with a specific goal: to build and operate a retirement facility in Glendale. By 1963, some 20 years after they were founded, they had raised enough money to build that facility. Surprisingly, instead, they presented their funds, more than $50,000, to the Verdugo Hills Sunshine Society, which was already operating Twelve Oaks Lodge at 2820 Sycamore Avenue in La Crescenta.

More than a dozen families were greeted Wednesday night by a cadre of police officers who came bearing Christmas gifts. Glendale police officers delivered gifts, including toys, grocery store gift cards, clothes and other household necessities, to 19 low-income Glendale families. The Salvation Army, homeless advocacy group Ascencia, city employees and school officials referred the families to the Glendale Police Officer's Assn. for the Christmas tradition. “It's hard because there are families we have to tell 'No,” Officer Patricia Larrigan said.

A Metrolink train covered in some 50,000 sparkling lights stopped for adoring fans in Burbank and Glendale Sunday evening as crowds donated hundreds of toys for low-income families. The Metrolink Toy Express, which benefits local nonprofits and agencies, attracted hundreds of people at each stop. In Burbank, where the firefighters' Spark of Love toy drive was beneficiary, fire engineer John Freeborn said the need was as great as ever. “The toy donations have been going down and the requests have been going up. It's just a sign of the times,” he said.