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Foothill Unity Center 35 Birthday Gala May 2
Arcadia Weekly Apr 29, 2015
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Friends of Foothill Unity Center will celebrate the organization’s 35th birthday on Saturday evening, May 2, with a gala evening in the Sofia Ballroom at Noor Event Center, 260 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena.
The festivities begin with a 5:30 p.m. cocktail reception and silent auction, followed at 7:30 p.m. by a dinner and birthday festivities, featuring a live auction.
Tickets are $150 per person; tables seat ten. Proceeds from the gala will support Foothill Unity Center’s wide range of programs helping the most vulnerable children, individuals and families across eleven San Gabriel Valley cities. During the past five years, the number of families coming to the Center for help has more than tripled. Last year the organization provided over 75,000 critical services to 4,994 low-income families (10,288 persons).
This kind of success would have been unimaginable in 1980, when a caring and determined woman named Josephine Anderson borrowed a closet at Immaculate Conception church in Monrovia and started a grassroots effort to aid struggling local families. That first year, help consisted mostly of blankets and canned goods. But word began to spread that there was now a place where people could help neighbors in need, and the effort started to grow. Supporters named it “Unity” to reflect a community coming together.
35 years later, the tiny startup is the primary provider of food, case management/crisis help, and access to health care resources across eleven San Gabriel Valley cities. It gives out 4 million pounds of food a year; connect with some 100 agencies and support groups to help clients meet a range of challenges; and inspires thousands of local individuals, businesses and organizations to give it their money, time and support.
Through the years, the Center’s mission statement has remained the same: “We help neighbors in crisis attain self-sufficiency by partnering with the community and using our resources wisely to provide vital support services with love and dignity.” As Foothill Unity Center turns 35, that mission continues to shape its future.
For more information on tickets, sponsorships and program ads, contact Barbara Rolf, (626) 358-3486, barbara@foothillunitycenter.org.
