Spindrift September 17, 2020

Dr. Bob Wood Editor

LUNCHEON MEETING
President George Lesley began the meeting a bit afternoon with a prayerful request to lessen the fire disaster and blessed Tom (95) and Jean (93) Naughton as they share what may be Tom’s final days. Seymour Beek led us in the pledge to the great flag seen here flying almost right over our tables on the BCYC patio.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
President George proudly introduced new member Fran Murphy, who has been added to the roster which should be attached. See photo here of retired principal Fran.

Dr. Bob Wood recognized a memorial service in honor of member Ron Barnett and distributed a memorial flyer telling about his life and loves (one wife, cars, and flying TWA). Let Bob know if you want him to mail it to you since he has a few extra copies.

Ron Barnett

PROGRAM
Vice President Mitch Mitch-ell introduced our speaker, Karen Francis, who has a B.S. from UCI, an MS from UCLA, and history with helping non-profit foundations succeed. Today Karen was telling us with great enthusiasm and detail about the “Child Guidance Center.” It started here in 1967, and she has been associated for the last three years helping them raise funds to achieve their excellent goals. One of the features that make this center unique is that it emphasizes with mental illness in addition to other kinds of abuse.

The agency was started by psychologists as a hotline for mental illness and recognizes the problem that 50% have had problems by the age of 14, and 80% have seen various kinds of domestic abuse. Since COVID19, domestic violence is up 25% and suicides are up 200%, the second leading cause of death. The Child Guidance Center is a leading nonprofit dedicated to improving the mental health and well-being of children and families. They are proud to have a team of compassionate, professional, and multicultural clinicians to help. They have 100 professionals employed plus another 20 workings for the MS or PhD.

They help those dealing with grief and loss, help them to keep friends, and avoid being targeted for bullying. They provide parent-child interaction therapy using one-way mirrors to observe and instruct parents “in the moment” to address unwanted behaviors. They emphasize interacting with the same clinician each time.

Also, they have a special program for the unique needs of those who have served in the military – SF, SC, or Strong Families, Strong Children.

They rent four facilities in Orange County and use another 12 facilities owned by the County for interacting with their children and parents. The Child Guidance Center sees 4500 kids/ year, and 2000 parents “graduated” last year. Their mission: “To empower children, youth, and families to reach their full potential through innovative mental health programs and services.” Go to childguidancecenteroc.org for more subtleties.

SF, SC
Roy Shlemon

PLANNING AHEAD
We are all hoping and are being told that there is a plan for us to meet again in the dining room on the 24th of September, but this is not firm. We believe the service will be individualized as it is currently, and that social distancing will be used in arranging the seating indoors.

President George plans to have a couple of speakers on the Business Day meetings to tell us about themselves.

Next week we believe it will be Roy Shlemon and one other person. Maybe the attendance raffle and the football raffle will come back soon and you can leave the meeting with your winnings. This will challenge Football Commissioner and President-Elect Mike Gertner to keep up with who might be playing.

---thoughts by Editor Bob Wood

mikem

OTHERS PRESENT