Results tagged “donation”

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It started with one fateful slap: In 1989 actress Zsa Zsa Gabor delivered a swift smack to the Beverly Hills Police officer who pulled her over during a traffic stop. As part of her sentence Gabor was sentenced to perform community service at the Vera Davis McClendon Youth & Family Center. But the 92-year-old Gabor didn't end her affiliation with the family center when she put in her time. "After completing her service, she and her husband began buying 200 frozen turkeys for delivery to the charity each Thanksgiving," according to the Daily News.

Gobble Gobble Give began ten years ago, when Echo Park's Barry Walker set out to cook and deliver Turkey Day meals to the homeless in his neighborhood. Now every year he's joined by others who want to help out, and the event is not only growing each year, but continuing to demonstrate how powerful a community can be in creating change. For this Thanksgiving, Gobble Gobble Give is looking for volunteers on every level who can give food, money, or clothing and those who can donate their time on Turkey day by cooking, warming, packaging and delivering food to the homeless in Echo Park and Downtown LA. Every little bit helps those in need!

The upcoming holidays are about giving, and for many of us that means both giving gifts to our loved ones and to those in need. One way to help out in both areas comes via Chicago-based retailer CB2, who opened up a branch of their home decor store in a segment of the onetime Virgin Megastore space at 8000 Sunset this April.

On December 8th, voters in L.A.'s Council District 2 (from Sherman Oaks to the Northeast Valley) will hit the polls to elect a new councilmember. The Mayor Sam blog digs into the latest filings for the two candidates, finding some notable patterns for each.

After being caught not once, not twice, but thrice, California's First Lady Maria Shriver apologized today for breaking the cell phone while driving law. Her brief statement:

On Sunday word came that two Los Angeles County firefighters lost their lives while on duty battling the Station Fire. Captain Tedmund "Ted" Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones tragically lost their lives when they were overrun by a fast moving fire which approached where they were working at Fire Camp 16. The vehicle in which the firefighters were driving towards safety went over the edge of a mountainside road. "Their untimely death on August 30, 2009 has been a shock for [the] Department," adds the LACFD.

It seems to happen every disaster, so it's likely to happen this time around as well. "After virtually every disaster, scam artists come out of the woodwork to defraud individuals wishing to help victims," Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a statement. "Californians should give only to reputable organizations so their donations don't end up lining the pockets of criminals and opportunists." His office has two webpages dedicated to the issue: one for tips on charitable giving and another for submitting complaints if you believe you've been ripped off. In a press release, his office also offers these tips:

When City Attorney Carmen Trutanich sat down with the L.A. City Council a couple weeks ago, he said his investigators found both "civil and criminal aspects" in their research that could lead to potential lawsuits. He would not discuss details publicly, but did go into a private session to talk about the civil aspects.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may be out of town until the end of the week, but his office is still working to keep the finances of the City under control. One unexpected expense this week: The estimated $4 Million cost of hosting the public memorial service for the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. Although City Councilmember Jan Perry, acting in her capacity as Mayor pro tem, went public with a plea for donations, much like the manner in which the costly Lakers Championship parade and rally was funded, no major donors, including the Jackson family or Staples Center owner AEG have come forward with funds.

Charity Navigator released their list of the country's 10 Most Inefficient charitable groups, naming two Orange County groups as some of the best for being worst. The ranking looks at the percentage of money spent versus the amount of money actually put towards supporting the cause, and those listed "spend more than $0.50 to raise each dollar in support, making them four times less efficient than the average charity. This inefficiency forces them to devote more than 40% of their budgets to fundraising, limiting the difference they can make with your dollars."

It was bound to happen: Whittier's "Octo Mom" Nadya Suleman has her own website.

How's this for timely? GLAZA, the friends-of group to the LA Zoo, announced late last night that they'll pay the $1.2 million annual debt service for the exhibit. Basically, that relieves the city's general fund of this debt and will allow construction to continue, they say. This comes right before the City Council will sit down today and possibly vote on the fate of the controversial elephant exhibit.

Reverend Maurice Chase, best known as Father Dollar Bill, often can be seen throughout the year handing out dollar bills to those in need. And Christmas and Thanksgiving are no different, except a bigger wad of cash. Today he handed out $15,000, mostly in dollar bills in amounts up to $20. The first ten people he saw in wheelchairs received $100 bills. Chase has been criticized for giving money to people who might spend it on drugs or booze, but he says that's not the point. The point is to show them that they are not forgotten, not invisible. "The annual tradition is supported by the widows of Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, along with comedian Bob Newhart and philanthropist Eli Broad," reported ABC7 who sent cameras to scene in the streets of Downtown LA.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the single largest contributor to Measure R, was questioned yesterday for donating close to a million dollars to support the campaign to pass the initiative that proposed raising the county's sales tax half-cent for transportation projects, including a possible subway rolling down Wilshire Blvd. with a stop right outside the museum.

The CEO of Cinemark, the company that operates 2700 screens internationally including the only movie theatre used at the Sundance Festival in Park City, Utah, has reportedly donated a large sum of money to support Prop 8, the ballot initiative that eliminated gay marriage in California. Alan Stock donated $9,999 in late October to proponents of the measure.

Apparently the well intentioned free lunch to discuss El Coyote manager Marjorie Chrisoffersen's $100 donation to pass Prop 8, ultimately eliminating gay marriage in California, did not go one bit well.

But Marjorie Chrisoffersen, who is also a Mormon, is not feeling good about her actions. She wants to speak to people about it tomorrow before lunch at the restaurant on Beverly Blvd. near La Brea:

Apple, who was one of the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to employees' same-sex partners, announced their $100,000 donation to fight Prop 8, the November ballot initiative that seeks to eliminate gay marriage. "We strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation," the company wrote on their website. "Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."

The California Teachers Union, the largest union of its kind in the state, made a second donation to the No on Prop 8 campaign this week. After their initial $250,00 donation in August, their $1 million gift comes as the campaign has been struggling against the large amount of funds raised by proponents of the measure that seeks to eliminate gay marriage.

"We need to redouble our efforts now to match the flood of money raised by supporters of Prop 8," Villaraigosa said in a statement announcing his $25,000 donation to defeat Proposition 8, which seeks to eliminate gay marriage in California. Although Villaraigosa has not officially said so, Top of the Ticket on the LA Times hints towards his higher aspirations that have been long rumored: "Villaraigosa is seriously toying with the idea of running for governor in 2010."

It was hinted towards on Monday and yesterday it came true. Pacific Gas & Electric donated a quarter million dollars to the No on Prop 8 campaign, which seeks to defeat a proposed amendment change that would eliminate gay marriage in California. "The utility also said it will spearhead the formation of a business advisory council that will seek to get other businesses around California to to defeat the ballot initiative," reported the LA Times. The working theory behind businesses getting on the No on Prop 8 bandwagon is that if passed, the ban would be bad for business and many more gay employees are out and in higher ranking positions.

February may well be the month of the year we think about love the most, but our local schools are banking on us sharing our love with them right now, too.

Picasso. Giacometti. Kandinsky. Klee. Brancusi. So begins a list of 20th century artists whose works are part of the largest single donation to LACMA in over 40 years. Private LA art collectors Henri Lazarof, a composer, and his wife Janice, a daughter of the late S. Mark Taper, gave 130 paintings, sculptures, and other modernist works to LACMA this week. The gift is valued at an estimated $100 million plus according to the LA Times....

If you find yourself going east down Sunset today near Downtown, you might want to pull over at that Burger King near that BBQ joint, because there's something very sweet happening there today. From 6 a.m. to midnight, the owners of the BK at 700 W. Cesar E. Chavez Ave. have decided to donate all today's sales to the family of a slain LAPD officer who died last month. Landon Dorris was investigating an...