CCF-LA News | July 18, 2023 | |
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Our congratulations to Fr. Matt Elshoff, Bishop Elect, who is featured in our story on St. Lawrence of Brindisi Parish and School.
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Summertime:
Living is Giving – Giving is Living
What lessons there are to be taught and learned in the selfless act of giving – it works both ways. By giving we enhance our lives through our charity and our compassion for others. By living a life of charity, we find ourselves on the path to heaven, for after all, that is the true purpose of life!
Summer is a good time to consider how strong the culture of giving is in each of us. Are we unconditionally giving to help our families, our co-workers, strangers we meet, charities we support, and our own faith enrichment? Are we thinking about ways in these summer months to take time with those we love to re-energize relationships, to spend some of our vacation time in volunteer mode, to support a social service center, or look for an opportunity to get closer to God?
For a few ideas, look no further than your own parish. Our parishes and schools offer ways to enrich children through summer school programs and vacation bible schools. Some parishes offer ministry outreach during the summer months to provide ways to volunteer in sacramental life, training for readers, ushers, and for teachers in teen and adult education programs, as well as retreats and studies around the Catholic faith.
Know that the charitable organizations you support are looking for more than your dollars, they need you – to help with their ministry work. It’s a common fact that our streets are filled with people in need of housing, food, rehabilitation, faith, and friendship. This is a good time to visit a charity that is particularly meaningful to you and to find out how you can help. You can also find ideas in the highlighted client funds we feature this month.
Kathy Anderson
President and Executive Director
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Summertime at St. Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic School
Literacy – Summer Enrichment – Camp Lolak
Located in Watts, St. Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic School offers opportunities during the summer for its grade school students to enrich their faith and learning while providing volunteer possibilities for adults and family members in our parish and beyond to participate.
Literacy
Friends of St. Lawrence (FOSL) is a separate 501(c)(3) that offers a reading program with tutors (from our local Catholic and public high schools) who work with our students in grades 1 – 5 who need additional support. While this program parallels the school year, FOSL has offered this tutorial program as part of our school-wide summer enrichment program. Under the direction of Delan Hillard, the executive director, FOSL is providing a 4-week tutorial reading program for grades 1 and 2. This is the second year that FOSL has offered this during the summer.
Summer Enrichment
St. Lawrence of Brindisi offers a summer enrichment program for student who need a little extra help in reading and math or would like to advance their literacy and numeracy skills. With online curricula, students see their achievements through data driven results. We have 100 students participating this summer, preparing for school opening next month.
St. Edwards Retreat Center (SERC) – Camp Lolak
Each year SERC offers up to 60 camperships for our inner-city students to experience the great outdoors at Camp Lolak in Wrightwood CA. Previously known as Holy Spirit Retreat Center, SERC offers a variety of camp experiences/activities in newly renovated facilities and sports centers. These camperships, including transportation, are made possible by donations from supporters of SERC.
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Fr. Matthew G. Elshoff,
OFM Cap., Pastor
St. Lawrence of Brindisi
Church
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Client Services Department has
a Busy Summer!
Janette Gordo works with clients every day to make sure their grants and deposits are handled efficiently and quickly. As a member of the Client Services Team led by Tania Naaman, Janette is the primary contact for anything related to reporting and managing account activity. And, this year, we are on track to match or exceed the $75.5 million level of granting in 2022!
Any questions regarding client statements, tracking transactions, or just needing a little more assistance or a friendly voice, Janette is there to help.
“Being the person over the phone assisting our clients with questions, request or issues empowers me to make sure their experience is a positive one. As I continue to learn and grow my experience at CCF-LA has been inspiring, and I am grateful to be a part of such a passionate, and dedicated organization.”
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Janette Gordo
Client Relations Associate
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Personal Reflections on Being at the Maronites’ Convention
July 4th and 5th
I was honored and blessed as a fellow Lebanese to be invited to speak about the services of CCF-LA at the National Apostolate of Maronites (NAM) Convention where the priests from both eparchies congregate annually. I gave a presentation on the benefits of working with CCF-LA, Financial Management, and Planned Giving.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have met in person with many of the priests who are already CCF-LA Agency clients, all from the Western Eparchy. Bishop Zaidan was among CCF-LA’s first clients and opened the first Maronite account in 2015. CCF-LA today has 29 accounts with the Maronites, and we deeply value this relationship.
Some History Then and Now: Around the 1880’s the Lebanese Maronites, rooted in the Phoenician heritage of skilled explorer and traders, began emigrating to the United States. With this, they started forming their own small Maronite communities, and by 1914 (WW1) there was 29 parishes established in the US. The Maronite Catholic Church is in complete union with the Roman Catholic Church and has been since its inception around 410 AD.
Fast forward to today, the Maronites in the US is organized in two Eparchies:
- Our Lady of Lebanon Eparchy – Western United States – 43 parishes – Headed by Bishop Elias Zaidan
- St. Maron Eparchy – Eastern United States – 45 parishes – Headed by Bishop Gregory Mansour
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Tania Naaman
Director of Client Services and Assistant Secretary
| I am delighted that these personal connections I formed at the NAM Convention will allow our mutually beneficial partnership between the Maronites and CCF-LA to deepen and grow. I also have a renewed appreciation for the vocation of a priest - to build a community, to be in touch with reality, to provide spiritual and emotional support, to be financially savvy, etc. It’s a demanding vocation. At CCF-LA, we will do whatever it takes to support the church to teach, develop, and sustain Catholic values across cultures and generations. | |
Summer Is A Good Time to
Be a Philanthropist
Everyone who gives to charity is a philanthropist and that means donating time, money, experience, skills, or talent to help create a better world. Anyone can be a philanthropist, regardless of status or net worth. CCF-LA was founded to help each one of us be a better steward of our philanthropy in a faith-based environment.
A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) is one of the fastest-growing giving tools in the U.S. today, a DAF at CCF-LA is a good choice for people who want to be actively involved in philanthropy, making grant recommendations today or in future years, while ensuring their Catholic values are part of their legacy.
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Jimmy Ozaeta
Vice President of Development,
Assistant Treasurer
| Join CCF-LA efforts to spread the great joy of giving, please call us if you know an individual or an organization that can benefit from our philanthropic management solutions. We welcome your referral. | | |
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Andrew O'Boyle
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
| Equity returns were positive for the month of June. The S&P 500 Index rose +6.6% bringing the year-to-date return to +16.9%. Small capitalization stocks outperformed large value stocks for the month across the style spectrum. In June, Developed International Equity markets, as measured by the MSCI EAFE Index, returned +1.7% and in the Fixed Income markets, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index fell 0.4%. | |
Security Measures
As we head into summer this year, CCF-LA is mindful of the ongoing security challenges facing financial institutions. CCF-LA vigilantly faces this challenge to protect client privacy and funds, while effectively balancing accessibility to data and ease of use. Data security, privacy, and client access is at the forefront of CCF-LA overall security efforts.
By taking all the steps necessary internally to protect sensitive client data without completely locking it down, so that CCF-LA can continue to make the gifting and granting process easy, while innovating and remaining competitive.
CCF-LA utilizes various tools in its data security tool box to keep its clients and employees safe, including outside security consultants, multi-factor authentication, online security tools, live training and testing of employees, and alliances with its third-party vendors and financial services providers.
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T. Matthew Hansen
General Counsel,
Sr. Director of Operations and Corporate Secretary
| CCF-LA looks forward to continuing working with its clients in the future by successfully protecting their charitable assets from harm. | |
Grand Reopening of Mission San Gabriel Museum – Tuesday, June 27
Archbishop Gomez blessed the Mission San Gabriel’s refurbished museum with over 150 guests attending. Among the guests, CCF-LA ran into two of our clients, Tod Tamberg, Executive Director of the Archival Center for the Archdiocese and Fr. Tom Elewaut, Pastor of the parish at Mission Basilica San Buenaventura.
Both Fr. Tom and Tod have a deep sense of appreciation for the contributions of St. Junipero Serra to the rich heritage and culture of California and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Like us, they appreciated the efforts made by the Archdiocese and the donors to the reconstruction of the museum and mission to preserve and honor the work of this Franciscan priest in perpetuity.
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L-R: Tod Tamberg, Executive Director Archival Center and Fr. Tom Elewaut, Pastor | |
Farewell Brother John Montgomery, FSC
A special thank you farewell mass and dinner was held for Brother John Montgomery, FSC, Principal, on Saturday, June 17th at Cathedral High School.
CCF-LA recognizes its client Cathedral High School and thanks Brother John Montgomery, FSC for his loving and dedicated service to the Lasallian school community. Brother John Montgomery, FSC, who has been the longest serving Principal in Cathedral’s nearly 100-year history, has been reassigned to another Lasallian school after a well-earned sabbatical.
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We wish Brother John Montgomery, FSC continued success in his new assignment to serve the mission of Lasallian education and he will be sorely missed at Cathedral High School. | |
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CALL Family Day, July 15
With summer focus on family, CALL held its annual family day at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center for just under 90 attending for mass, a barbecue and lots of games. The last to leave were, Rosie Chinea Sawver, ED of CALL and Kathy Anderson. Two new friendships flourished with Kathleen and Rebecca pictured here under the parasols that CALL provided to help beat the heat.
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Mission Statement
The Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles empowers charitable individuals and organizations across cultures and generations through professional philanthropy management solutions that allow clients to develop and sustain their philanthropy in support of Catholic values.
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