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Photos by Reed Hutchinson Karen Fond

nourishment for the soul

BRUIN ANGELS

Giving back is their passion

We at UCLA Today continue to be amazed at the number of faculty and staff who devote time and energy to those in need, especially at this busy time of year. Through the efforts of the four Bruins profiled below— whether it’s providing children with free books or taking them on wilderness hikes, giving free train rides to people of all ages or devising fun activities for families at the Ronald McDonald House— life has become a little bit brighter for others.

KAREN FOND
Karen Fond remembers crying after she gave a Braille book to a girl who was learning to read again after losing her sight. As the child took the book, she dropped her cane, put her fingers over the pages and began exclaiming, “George! George!” She had recognized one of her favorite books, “Curious George.”

Such moments are the reason that Fond, a pediatric nurse practitioner and child development specialist in the Children’s Health Center (CHC), has been spending several hours a week since 1998 volunteering as coordinator for the Reach Out and Read program. “It brings the reality of children’s lives right up front,” Fond said. “You see how something you take for granted is so incredibly wonderful for them.”

Through the national reading program, children between 6 months and 5 years old receive a book when they come to the center for a well visit. Fond and the physicians give away about 1,000 books a year to their low-income and primarily Spanish-speaking clients. In addition, students in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and undergraduates in the Help for Humanity program read books during story time for children who are waiting for medical appointments.

Fond has enlisted Borders bookstore in Westwood to donate some of the books, which are kept in storage in the Peter Morton Medical Building, where CHC is located. For her, a primary reward of being involved with the program is meeting children’s authors, illustrators, librarians and others who help the program to flourish. “It’s a whole different world than health care,” Fond said. “With so many kids in California scoring below the 50th percentile in reading, I thought it was important for those of us in pediatrics to start addressing the problem.”

— Robin Heffler

ELYNN LEVINE
Elynn Levine has a demanding job as a physician liaison in the UCLA Medical Center Office of Marketing and Planning. In an area stretching from Westlake Village to San Luis Obispo, she’s responsible for meeting with physicians and medical groups to advise them about connecting with UCLA medical services. Yet she still finds time for volunteer work that assists two groups at opposite ends of the life cycle: children and seniors.

Since 1987, when a staff member put an ad on her desk seeking volunteers for the Ronald McDonald House near Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Levine has been involved with the program, which provides temporary housing for families of seriously ill children being treated at nearby hospitals. She was first a weekend manager and later a member of the board of trustees. Currently, she heads the committee determining policies and procedures, as well as the decorating committee. Among her favorite volunteer activities are theme dinners, such as the recent Italian night, which featured red-and-white tablecloths and Italian music.

“We just want to make the lives of families a little easier in this stressful time,” Levine said. “We call it the house that love built.”

At the same time, Levine has for more than a year been making and packing sandwiches for the Meals on Wheels program at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. The Westlake Village resident said she “wanted to do some payback” to her community. She chose to serve the senior population because she has an elderly mother, she said.

“Volunteer work nourishes your soul and spirit,” she said. “It helps you be thankful for what you have.”

— R.H.

ELLANA SCHWARTZ
Not long after moving to Los Angeles from Austin, Texas, Ellana Schwartz was driving through the Mulholland-Coldwater Canyon area when a sign advertising a nature center piqued her curiosity.

A phone call, a visit and a 10-week training program later, and Schwartz was working as a docent for the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom at Franklin Canyon Park, taking children from inner-city schools on hikes to introduce them to the natural habitat and local history, and to educate them about ecology and preservation.

“We have different themes we deal with, depending on the age of the children,” said Schwartz, a senior publications coordinator in the marketing department for Housing and Hospitality Services. “Sometimes we try to find out what the schools are studying in science and social studies and tie that in.”

Schwartz has been volunteering for about 15 years. Besides leading her twice-monthly, two-hour educational hikes around the park’s scenic lake, chaparral and forest ecosystems, she’s developed weekend hikes for Girl Scouts earning their ecology badges. Recent knee surgery temporarily has kept her off the trails, but it hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm for the program.

“It’s a thrill to connect with all the different children in Los Angeles,” said the one-time elementary school teacher, “to bring them some excitement and beauty.”

One particular moment stands out. “When I asked [some students] what they’ll remember or what was interesting to them, one little girl said, ‘There’s no graffiti here.’ If nothing else,” said Schwartz, “that keeps me going.”

— Sandy Siegel

DUG WARD
Dug Ward isn’t sure what it is about animators and trains, but it seems that many of the former are hooked on the latter. Ward is no exception. Manager of UCLA’s animation facilities and a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, he’s also a member of the Los Angeles Live Steamers, a nonprofit group founded in 1956 by railroad buffs, including Walt Disney, who take great pleasure in sharing their avocation with others and giving back to the community.

Located next to Travel Town in Griffith Park, Live Steamers operates small trains on tracks complete with built-to-scale bridges, tunnels, towns and depots. Most everything on the site has been constructed by the members, who provide free rides to the public on Sundays. (The facility currently is closed, but the group hopes to be up and running again in January.)

Ward, father to a train-loving 3-year-old son, relishes the public-access days, when he gets to play engineer and conductor.

“It’s amazing. You see a bunch of adults, including myself, turning into little kids,” he said. “It’s great, not only being around the trains, which I love, but seeing what an impact it has on people.”

Some of Ward’s passengers are cancer survivors and children with physical disabilities, Down syndrome and cancer who are invited to special Saturday events. Ward is more than glad “if we can do anything to make life a little better for them.”

— S.S.