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President Chris introduced our program speaker, Theresa Heim, Director of Development for the Westside Coalition, the largest coalition of non-profits in the country. Her first comment was that she is a Bruin which was applauded. Her second comment was that she had often observed Rotarians working for communities when she was working overseas in poor countries and has great respect for the organization and the work it does around the world.
We learned the Westside Coalition was founded in 1982 as a 501©3 non-profit to coordinate the services of over 75 local non-profits working in West Los Angeles. It functions as a hub of communication & training for these service agencies, many of which currently focus on aiding the homeless in our area.
Many of those who work for these organizations are volunteers with no formal training in working with the homeless, especially in dealing with mental health crises. As example, most of us did not know to call 211 for mental health crisis situations, rather than Emergency 911 if we encounter a person in distress, homeless or not. We also were unaware that West Los Angeles had closed our winter shelters (these are temporary shelters opened during inclement weather that provide a bed, shower, and food overnight for the homeless) due to the Covid epidemic. Or, that domestic violence is a larger contributor to homelessness than mental disease.
Whatever the reason, homelessness is worse in Los Angeles than most other large cities. Contributing factors may include the warm climate, benefits provided and, the great number of helping agencies. Westside Coalition does its best to promote communication, training and, education in our community to further understand and mitigate our common problem of homelessness. Amen!
Special thanks to PP Marsha Hunt for reciting the four-way test, PP Gordon Fell for the pledge, PP Steve Scherer for the “Thought of the Day” telling us to take life one day at a time and, live every day as though it were your last!! PP Ed Gauld for leading us in singing.
Special guests included UCLA Rotaract Sarah Huang and, international Rotary scholar from Japan, Riku Yamanaka.
PE Steve Day made several Paul Harris pin presentations (say that fast 5 times) for Nancy Cohen (her first), Bill Roen, Paul Harris +1, PP Diane Good, Paul Harris +4, and Terry M. White & President Chris, Paul Harris +5. Congratulations to all of you!!
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