For volunteers at Anaheim’s Canyon Acres, the work is both heartbreaking and rewarding.
Canyon Acres works with some of Orange County’s most vulnerable children—those who have been abused and neglected.
“This is not a social tea organization,” said Harald Herrmann, chief executive of Yard House Restaurants USA LLC in Irvine. “This is not about the galas. When you come on to this board you’re coming on with both eyes open.”
Canyon Acres works to place kids in foster homes, get them adopted or to provide them medical or other help.
In all, the group serves about 250 kids a day with 80 workers, plus volunteers.
After school and during summer, about 20 children spend time at Canyon Acres’ serene 4.5-acre ranch in Anaheim Hills. They are tended to with a variety of programs, such as music and art therapy and care for the ranch’s horses.
$8 Million Budget
The group has a yearly budget of about $8 million, drawing a quarter of that from fundraising. The rest comes from government contracts.
Most of Canyon Acres’ board members get involved first as financial supporters and volunteers.
Backers include mortgage financier Glenn Stearns and wife Mindy and author Dean Koontz and wife Gerda.
Corporate donors include Traditional Jewelers, Parker-Han-nifin Corp.’s Parker Aerospace, Newman’s Own Foundation and In-N-Out Burger Inc.’s foundation.
Individual donors and volunteers typically are recruited to the board by a current or past board member.
Members serve six-year terms. Some are on their second and third terms. Canyon Acres was founded in 1980.
The board is a slice of Orange County’s business community: Windell Stout, chief executive of California Sunset Escrow in Fountain Valley; Patrick Dirk, chief executive of Troy Group Inc. in Costa Mesa; Harry Winters, broker with Generation Realty in Newport Beach; Christine Bock, chief executive of Bock Communications of Irvine; Barbara D’Amato, chief executive of Trilogy Capital Corp. in Irvine; John Evans, senior vice president and regional manager for Wells Fargo & Co.; and R. Kelly, chairman of Spectrum Asset Management Inc. in Newport Beach.
“It’s not a ‘yes’ board,” said Erin Lastinger, a board member and chief executive of the A. Gary Anderson Family Foundation in Anaheim. “We don’t approve anything until everyone is really comfortable with that unanimous decision.”
Lastinger is the daughter of the late A. Gary Anderson, founder of Riverside’s Directors Mortgage Loan Corp., which was sold in 1994 to what’s now Wells Fargo.
Board Consensus
Big issues never come down to a vote, according to Yard House’s Herrmann.
“The vote is usually the affirmation of what the group is already endorsing,” he said.
The board hashes out big decisions—on, say, budgets or program offerings—mainly through committees.
“These committees do most of the legwork, the heavy lifting,” said Clete Menke, president of Canyon Acres.
The committees bring ideas to board meetings, which take place six times a year. Menke said he sometimes presents ideas to the committees.
Menke has been with Canyon Acres for 10 years. It was his second job out of college.
“It’s my life’s work,” he said.
He also worked for Boys Town, first in Nebraska where the nonprofit is based, and later in California.
This week, Canyon Acres will combine Menke’s office in Anaheim, another office in Santa Ana and another in Orange into one larger office in Anaheim near the stadium.
Canyon Acres is one of the few nonprofits that will be hiring in the next 10 months based on a new contract with the county to provide mental health services for children. It will hire eight to 10 people and expects to at least double the kids it serves at the ranch.
The group’s goal is to raise about $1.2 million in private donations this year.
It raised $250,000 at its spring gala.
The number of attendees was down but those who were there gave more, according to Menke.
Last week, an informal underwriting event to cover expenses for the group’s fall fundraiser in October was held at restaurateur Antonio Cagnolo’s Newport Beach home.
The event usually is held at his Santa Ana restaurant, Antonello Ristorante.
“If we do it at my house, people are a little more generous,” he said.
Cagnolo and his group, I Padrini d’Antonello—godfathers in Italian—donate to children’s causes and have made Canyon Acres a primary beneficiary.
The group of entrepreneurs, lawyers, bankers and judges started at Cagnolo’s restaurant.
Board member Dirk, a longtime Antonello customer, encouraged Cagnolo to get involved with Canyon Acres. Dirk and his wife have been involved for a decade.
Dirk also introduced Canyon Acres to Bock, who now does free public relations for the group.
State Budget Fallout
Canyon Acres recently saw about half a million in funding for various programs cut due to the state budget crisis.
Another $1.5 million was cut from the group’s budget mainly because Canyon Acres moved away from housing kids at its ranch to focus on treatment services.
The kids who once lived at the ranch now live in foster homes or were adopted.
The new thinking is that kids are better off in families, either those of relatives or a foster family, rather than in a group home setting, he said.
Last year, Canyon Acres acquired Santa Ana’s Family Solutions, which gave the group an adoption license.
“It’s the ultimate option,” Herrmann said.
