At the Heart of Helping - October 2018 Update
In This Issue:
letterLetter from the President/CEO
...At the Heart of Youth Mental Health in a Changing World

World Mental Health Day 2018
Last Wednesday was World Mental Health Day and this year's theme was "Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World." We were thrilled to see such an appropriate theme since, as many of you know, the youth mental health crisis has been the major focus of our passion, research and program development for the last year.
 
I recently wrote a guest post for South Bay Families' Connected blog to help explain why we are so concerned about this crisis and why we decided to bring the nationally-renowned researcher and author, Dr. Jean Twenge, to speak to our community for tomorrow night's free event. Click here to read my post and learn more.
 
We hope you'll join us for our first major event on this topic, particularly since Dr. Twenge's work has been such an integral part of our own research - complete event details are below. We strongly believe that the more everyone is aware of the problem, the sooner we can work together to help our youth.
 
As always, thank you for joining us "at the heart of helping!"

Sara Myers
President/CEO
twenge Don't Miss Thursday's Event With Jean Twenge
...At the Heart of Bringing Expertise to Complex Issues

Jean Twenge_ author of iGen
Parents, caregivers, teens and groups working with youth won't want to miss hearing from nationally-renowned researcher and author Dr. Jean Twenge as she discusses her groundbreaking research on teens and screens on Thursday, October 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium at Torrance High School. We are proud to partner with Torrance Unified School District and South Bay Families Connected to present Today's Youth: Screen Time and Mental Health, a free event where you can learn more about what influences are shaping iGen, and how we can harness the positive trends while mitigating the negative ones.
 
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with information on youth wellness resources available in the auditorium's lobby. Copies of Dr. Twenge's book, iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy-and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, will be available for purchase at the event. Alternatively, books can be ordered online here - 10% of all book sales at the event and through this link will be donated to help fund this event. We are extremely grateful to Burkley Brandlin Swatik & Keesey LLP, Supervisor Janice Hahn and Honda for providing financial support to make this event possible. 

otbThanks for Supporting the Dental Supply Drive!
...At the Heart of Clean, Bright Smiles

Operation Teddy Bear Dental Supply Drive

It takes a village, and we are so grateful to everyone who collected and/or donated toothbrushes and toothpaste for our Operation Teddy Bear Dental Supply Drive! Because of your support, the kids we serve through this time-honored program will be able to focus on learning in school, and not be distracted by their dental hygiene. For many of our youngsters, the toothbrush is their favorite part of the bag, since it is often an "extra" item that families can't afford on tight grocery budgets.
johndeereJohn Deere's "Can Build" Benefitting Food For Kids
...At the Heart of Creative Community Giving

John Deere _Can Build_ Competition

As part of their Community Giving Week, our friends at John Deere in Torrance created a "Can Build" Competition. Employees were split up into teams, and they had 20 minutes to create structures using the food items they brought in to donate to Food For Kids. Each team was quite creative, as you can see in the photos and in this video. Their donations were then gathered and weighed after the competition, and totaled more than 1,600 pounds of food - one of our largest donations in recent years! We couldn't be more grateful for their generosity and ingenuity!
 
Donations like these help us fill the bags of food we distribute to eligible families every week. Click here to learn more about the program, including about how and where you can contribute, and a downloadable copy of our Shelf-Stable Food Shopping List. You can also learn about the latest Food For Kids donations from the community and more on our   Facebook , Instagram and Twitter accounts!
shopYou Shop, Companies Donate
...At the Heart of a Shopping and Supporting Two-fer

Ralphs Community Rewards
Do you regularly shop at Ralphs? Did you know that the shopping you're already doing could benefit the Volunteer Center when you select us as your Community Rewards beneficiary? Simply log-in to your Ralphs.com account, click My Account at the top right, click Community Rewards at the far left, and if you're not yet enrolled, search for "Volunteer Center South Bay" or our organization code "YJ184." You can also update the organization you're supporting by clicking Change Organization and searching that way.
 
Your Amazon purchases can also benefit the Volunteer Center if you use the AmazonSmile site to shop - or when you remember to use smile.amazon.com at check out, if you have already placed items in your cart. These purchase will be worth more at the end of this month, because AmazonSmile is increasing the donation rate on all eligible purchases between October 29 and November 2! If you're shopping on Amazon, but not using AmazonSmile, click here to learn how you can shop and have Amazon donate to us - at no cost to you.
voloppFeatured Volunteer Opportunity
Volunteer at the Downtown Torrance Association's
Scare Down in Downtown on Saturday, October 27,
including a Trunk-or-Treat on El Prado!

Volunteers are needed throughout the afternoon and evening to help decorate, guide cars serving as "trunks" and pedestrians visitors, and most importantly, serve as Trunk-or-Treat hosts!  

THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR SPONSORS:
The Affinity Group
Battle Creek Community Foundation
Crail-Johnson Foundation
John Deere Foundation
Keenan _ Associates
Kinecta
Los Angeles Trial Lawyers_ Charities
The Molina Foundation
Moog_ Inc.
The Rudolph J. and Daphne A. Munzer Foundation
The Port of Long Beach
The Port of Los Angeles
Torrance Refining Company
Saatchi _ Saatchi
Valero
Watson Land Company
Carl E. Wynn Foundation
Whitney Young Children_s Foundation
The Volunteer Center  South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach
Phone: (310) 212-5009 | Fax: (310) 212-7201 |  www.volcenter.org



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The Volunteer Center recognizes the value of empathy and service to others, and we have been "at the heart of helping" for more than 50 years, referring thousands of volunteers to both traditional and court-referred service opportunities. The heart of our mission lies in knowing the most urgent, local needs. We discover this by regularly listening to the members of our community. When we discover a critical need is going unmet, we lead the response by assembling a team of caring, talented volunteers to create signature programs, such as Operation Teddy Bear and Food For Kids, which offer members of our community the opportunity to contribute to the solution. Visit www.volcenter.org to learn more.