LATimes Family Fund Grants from David Hiller

Folks,

Yesterday, a number of us spent an inspiring noon hour with fourteen non-profit agencies who received grants from the Times Family Fund to support their really good work in the areas of hunger, homelessness, youth programs, literacy and the arts. The grants, totaling more than $1 million, came from public fundraising by our Family Fund in partnership with these agencies (and an approximately 50% matching grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation).

Our philanthropic work is an important part of our role as a leading citizen of Los Angeles and Southern California. And it builds on the civic role of our journalism. Almost every one of the agencies with us yesterday had a story about the impact of our journalism on the issues they are involved with, including the St. Joseph Center whose work with the homeless has stirred controversy in Venice reported on the front page of Thursday’s California section. Steve Lopez's work and the many fine articles written on the agencies during the Family Fund campaign were also much credited in keeping the focus on these tough matters and unmet needs.

I was also reminded that our philanthropy is also about more than money. It's about how we all get personally engaged in these issues. I know many, many of you do get involved, and I wanted to thank you for that. In addition, I want to specially thank our colleagues who have been working with the Times Family Fund in identifying and working with the agencies who received the grants - Clement Cheung, Maria Dominguez, David Miller, Beth McCall Shapiro, Dana Tardy, Teri Branch, Jim Garcia, Nikki Lowe, Ana Ochoa, Jamie Gold, Tom Reinken and Dee Townsend. And of course Kim McCleary France and her team who do such a terrific job spearheading our public affairs efforts. If you’d like to find out more about joining the Employee Grants Committee, please call Raul Bustillos in Public Affairs on 75763.

With everything else that goes on, it's encouraging to be reminded of the good work that so many people do in our community.

David