DOWNEY - The TLC (True Lasting Connections) Family Resource Center celebrated 10 years of service to an ever growing 'clientele'-district students, their families, and others needing help-while raising $15,000 from corporate and individual donations at its fundraiser luncheon Friday.Original board members as well as current ones were saluted, the former for nimbly guiding TLC through its initial stages and working through a staff of four, the latter for carrying on its legacy of caring that today characterizes TLC's basket of services. Starting with two schools served in 2000, TLC today provides vital services to all of the district's 13 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and the Downey Adult School, which together represent 22,500 students. This in itself is a miracle of sorts, TLC coordinator Luz Perez proudly pointed out, as TLC, despite the recession, continues to function successfully-still with a staff of four. TLC's mainly health services, dispensed free of charge even to uninsured or underinsured children, includes medical services, vision and dental care, food and clothing, counseling/support groups, low-cost health insurance enrollment, referral services, and parental education. Perez recalls that the number of cases referred to TLC in its first year of operation was 50; last year it handled 2,000. The members of TLC's initial board of directors who were present at the luncheon and recognized were: Rose Boland, Roxanne Davis, Janice Hobson, Linda Kennedy, and Stan Hanstad. Also lauded were the contributions of such stalwart supporters, to mention only a few, as Kaiser Permanente, the Mary R. Stauffer Foundation, L.A. County Office of Education (LACOE), Downey Federal Credit Union, the Office of L.A. County supervisor Don Knabe, Alameda Elementary PTA, Rio San Gabriel Elementary PTA, Downey Los Amigos Kiwanis, Gangs Out of Downey and the Jerome Foundation. Deirdre Skelton, a representative with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, who announced a grant awarded this year to TLC of $25,000 and another $25,000 next year, put TLC's stunning achievement in perspective thus: "Imagine! In spite of tough economic times, we're celebrating its 10th!" Said DUSD director of student support services Dr. Robert Jagielski, who emceed the luncheon, "TLC, in many ways, symbolizes the heart of this great city."

********** Published: March 5, 2010 - Volume 8 - Issue 46