Tweet
May 18, 2012
Bresee Mother’s Day Make-Over

         

On May 10th Bresee had its first Mother’s MAKE-OVER day!

The FSC team chose 5 hard working mothers and surprised them with a MAKE-OVER. All 5 mothers began their day at the Salon Viejo located in the Silverlake area. We’re  so thankful for Chris and Omar who are owners & pro hair stylist. These guys volunteered their time and skills to cut, blow dry,  style and wax all 5 mother’s  for FREE! Chris and Omar worked their magic and made these mothers look and feel amazing.  

                   

Afterwards, the FSC team converted the Bresee Multi-Purpose Room into a nail shop, make up studio and a photography studio. 

  

In the make-up area: We are appreciative for Linda Desenclos who volunteered to be our make-up artist for the day. Linda also provided all 5 mothers with a gift bag  (the gift bags included: 1) coffee mug, 2)Tea bags, 3)travel size Aveno Lotion, 4) Ferrero Rocher chocolates, 5)Nail polish, 6) Mega million lottery ticket, 7) $5 Starbucks gift card, 8)Clinic exclusive Portable Colour pallet). 

In the nail-shop area: We were grateful to have Rashawna Williams come back and volunteer. Rashawna along with Cristina Aviles  gave the mothers a manicure and got really creative with the nail designs. 

    

In the photography area: Dunia Perich did an excellent job with making the mothers feel comfortable as they posed for the camera while I (Jasmine Desenclos) tried my best to capture the transformation of these wonderful mothers. The before and after pictures are amazing and the smiles at the end of the day were well worth it. 

The event was such a success that the FSC team would like to make this an annual event. This Mother’s MAKE-OVER day was possible due to 4 volunteers and a few Bresee staff members. Imagine what we could do with the help of a few more volunteers and hopefully some sponsorships next year! The goal for next year is to make-over 20 mothers and invite them to a nice mother’s day lunch afterwards. If you are interested in volunteering in make-over events Please contact Jasmine Desenclos.  

9:03pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxLk3YGi
May 11, 2012
College Week At Bresee

Americorps staff members Melissa, Karina, and Sandra created a week of college-bound curriculum and displays for Bresee middle-school students.  One of the more popular displays were posters exhibiting information where various staff members attended college, including college pictures and quotes about favorite classes and reasons why they went to college. 

  

As Karina explained, “The purpose of college week is to get kids to begin to think about college and possible careers paths. We wanted them to understand college life through the experiences of adults that they interact with on a daily basis. Finally, we wanted to emphasize  the personal growth that can be achieved through college.”

6:35pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxLImrm9
May 11, 2012
FamilySource Center Staff Fulfills Needs In Our Community

      

Every Tuesday morning, a FamilySource Center staff member walks to Vons and comes back with two rolling baskets full of bread. There is sandwich bread, sourdough bread, cakes, muffins, cookies, cup cakes, pita bread, hot dog buns, burger buns, French rolls and much more. The clients seem to prefer the sweet deserts; second choice is honey wheat sandwich bread. The clients are very thankful because this bread helps them complete their groceries for the week and the few dollars that they save makes a difference.
      
We serve a large number of clients who have been unemployed for many years and have very limited resources. Today, 56 clients came in for the Immediate Needs Transportation Program. The clients usually come and request bus tokens/taxi vouchers when they have a medical appointment but do not have the means to get to there. The clients also come and request bus tokens when they are in search of employment.

           We have two wonderful volunteers that come and assist us when we give out services. A huge thanks to mothers Carmen Chavez and Elba Cuevas, both former clients, who now give back and serve their community. 

4:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxLIF53U
May 7, 2012
Fund Raising Five

     

Five high school students have been up to all-good here at Bresee.  Inspired by the need for funding for the high school program, Ambar Quintanilla, David, Alan Bravo, Pedro Guevara and Egar Chaj started thinking about how to make money from nothing but problem solving, decision making, hard work and creative thinking. From an initial $6.00 raised from the recycling, the youth had seed money to sell healthy snacks to kids during snack time.  A single young man raised another $18 selling organic tomato plants seeded by another high school student at Bresee using only a small table and a little bit of time on a Sunday afternoon at an Earth Day Celebration at Eco-Village.  The high schoolers are now sitting pretty with $50 and are anxious to spread their good will for an even bigger fund raising event.  We applaud them.

8:08pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxL4DaQD
May 7, 2012

More Pix From Big Sunday On Saturday

8:00pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxL4BBrZ
May 7, 2012
Big Sunday On Saturday

    

                                                  a few of the many

On May 5th, over 100 volunteers gathered at Bresee to participate in a state-wide day of service called Big Sunday.  The volunteers came from local churches including Mosaic and River of Life.   They were joined by Bresee staff and students to give Bresee a face lift.
    
The group divided into 4 teams.   One team got their hands dirty by pulling weeds, digging up bushes, and restoring our native plant garden to its original condition.  Even the toughest, strongest bush didn’t stand a chance against these guys.  Today, some staff members commented that the park looks the best they have ever seen it!  
    
Another group worked on repainting the fence that goes around Bresee’s park, separating the park from the church parking lot.  This team included a number of Bresee students who had a blast painting.  One student declared, “I love giving back to Bresee because I love Bresee so much.”   Another said “we should have days like this all the time.”   The kids’ enthusiasm certainly rubbed off on their adult teammates.
    
In the church, two groups split up to paint on the third floor and the first floor.   The rooms were brighter and cleaner by the end of the day thanks to fresh coasts of paint.

Special thanks to Mike, Landry and Samantha for coordinating the teams from Mosaic and River of Life.  Additionally, a special thanks to all of the Bresee staff members who contributed to making Big Sunday possible including Jasmine, Fonda, Jessy, Dunia, Sandra, Jerold, Rene, Ramiro, Blanca, Daniel, Boris, and Dave.

7:54pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxL49GDk
May 4, 2012

Art Instructor Tavia & her students visit several art projects in the Bimini Place neighborhood.

2:54pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxKskU6q
May 4, 2012
Bimini Place Clean Up A Success!

     

Two residents from the apartment building across the street showed up for the Bimini Place Clean Up organized by the boys in the Service Project & Leadership Workshop.  Thanks to a 311 call by Kenneth on Tuesday,  LA Dept. of Sanitation had already picked up the enormous pile of busted furniture and TVs that was growing larger by the day.  However, the workers left a lot of trash in the gutter, which the clean up crew quickly tackled.

      

Supervised by staff, the boys broke into two teams, eventually joining together at the alley on Bimini and venturing out to the Vermont Ave. strip mall where they even cleaned up trash in the parking lot.  Throughout the hour that the boys were out cleaning, community members congratulated them, including Lois Arkin from LA EcoVillage. 

        

       Morley, one of the hardest working boys, in the parking lot of the strip mall. 

Next week the workshop wraps up with the boys finishing a letter to the manager of the Rayfield Apartments, asking if the Rayfield can be more responsible for the mess outside their building.  The boys will also create a bulletin board display to educate their fellow Bresee students about helping to clean up the environment.  As one of the boys wrote on their poster: “Help Us Or Die!”

       

       Byron Escobar helping to clean up the corner of Vermont Ave & 1st Street

2:41pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxKsi8zF
May 1, 2012
Service Learning Project Workshop

  

Bresee’s after school enrichment programing raises the bar for middle school students with the requirement that they attend a Leadership and Service Learning Workshop.  Currently there are 8 sixth and seventh grade boys in the initial 4 week workshop where they’re gaining leadership skills by creating their own service project in the neighborhood.  

  

After a tour of Bimini Place and Vermont Ave. with cameras, the boys decided the streets could use a good clean up.  They decided on a date and time, created posters, and stapled copies up and down the street.  There is also outreach to school and local organizations like Ecovillage.  

  

Already juggling three tasks in the workshop, Kenneth generously accepted the assignment to call the Dept. of Sanitation and report a pile of busted up furniture accumulating across the street.  He was told that the city would do a pick up on Thursday, the same day the boys scheduled their clean up.  Let’s hope the lessons learned in the workshop stick and we have helped create a new generation of service learners for Bresee.  

8:05pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxKipEGy
April 30, 2012
Virgil M.S Resource Fair

The Virgil Resource fair took place on Virgil campus on April 28th from 10am- 3pm. Many agencies had representatives ready  to give information to the local community. Bresee Foundation, Amanecer, World fit for kids, City Year, St. Vincent Hospital, Aztec Rising, Rampart Village Council members were just some of the agencies that attended the fair.

Kids were able to get information about colleges.  Mount Saint Mary’s College, UCLA, LACC and USC each had a former college student to represent their school.

                

The crowd was entertained by the Virgil Middle School cheer leading/drill team and dance squad. Belmont High school was also there to show their support. The food was great and cheap ($1 for tacos and the same for a fruit salad).

                 

Bresee promoted the Mother’s Day gift ( $20 Food 4 Less gift card), Free Summer Camp program and the Bresee soccer leagues. Christie Sundstrom and her daughter Anastasia Jackson, both FSC clients, volunteered to sit at the Bresee booth and give out information.  Francisco Macias who is also an FSC client was at the fair promoting literacy by giving away free books. It was a beautiful day for a resource fair.

6:52pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZaN6pxKeIYQx