This month, many of Orange County’s nonprofit organizations will come together as they have since 1985 to celebrate National Philanthropy Day (NPD), which honors the extraordinary people who contribute so generously to change lives and save lives and to make Orange County a better place to live. And as usual, the room will be packed. The number of philanthropic organizations in OC rank among the highest per capita in the nation.

Ask any reputable money manager specializing in municipal finance why OC is such a philanthropic fountainhead and he’ll likely chalk it up to fiscal solvency. OC unemployment rates for 2006 are currently at 3.5 versus a 5.3 national average. Numbers could change as data comes in, but OC will assuredly remain economically strong.

And while there’s no doubt that OC has more than it’s share of Millionaires who can well afford to give, like the Ueberroth Family (one of this year’s NPD Spirit of Philanthropy Award nominees); it’s the unsung volunteers, like Jacqueline Calhoun Schaefgen who deserve
much of the credit.

Jacqueline works tirelessly and quietly with an organization called Families Forward. Originally founded in 1984 as Irvine Temporary Housing, Families Forward provides transitional housing, along with case management and job placement counseling, for low-income families in need.

“I’ve always done volunteer work, but I was drawn to this because there’s not enough low-income housing in Orange County,” says Jacqueline. “As a mother, I can’t imagine what it would be like to find myself homeless.” As we speak by phone, the gurgling sounds of an
infant can be heard through the earpiece “I have three kids, ages 5, 3, and 8 weeks. That’s the baby,” she explains.

On top of caring for three young children and a husband, Jacqueline (or Jacquie as she likes to be called) also works, making her volunteer efforts that much more extraordinary.

“I find the time because I believe it should be part of our daily normal life that we give back to our community. I want my children to learn at a young age that you find the time to give back. It’s our responsibility.”

One woman’s sense of responsibility is another woman’s salvation, as 35-year-old Tawny Kissmann discovered last year after her marriage went sour and she found herself living out of her car with her three young sons.

“I found Families Forward at the front of the newspaper. I called them on Monday, I had an interview on Wednesday and I had keys by Friday.”

Keys not to a community shelter, but to a home in a county where the average house costs $633,000.00.

Families Forward currently owns and operates 14 transitional housing units in Irvine and it will soon receive 14 additional homes on the former Tustin Marine Base, which it expects to begin operating over the course of the next year. The families can live in the fully furnished
homes for up to a year, during which they are also provided with essentials such as gas cards and food.

But more important than the gas cards, food, and shelter, Tawny credits the counseling with getting her life back on track.

“They help you change patterns while you’re in the program so you don’t find yourself in the same situation. They’ve given me parenting skills to help me get along with my teen better. They give you the life skills to help you go forward.”

While there are many philanthropic organizations in OC designed to help low-income families, Families Forward focuses strictly on Southern Orange County residents. “I think there’s the perception that South OC doesn’t need help, but that’s not the case,” says Jacqueline Calhoun Schaefgen. “There are lots of families in need outside of Santa Ana. We could use twenty other organizations like Families Forward.”

Another OC organization providing help to women in need is Working Wardrobes, which was started 16 years ago with the mission to provide wardrobes for OC women who were victims of domestic violence and who were ready to enter or re-enter the workforce. It has since expanded to serve women in crisis, whether due to substance abuse or domestic violence and offers other services such as career coaching and job skills. In 1997 the organization was further expanded to include men.

“We have a 10,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Fountain Valley filled with clothing, accessories, shoes, handbags - everything you could need; and periodically we host events on site where we’ll do complete makeovers. The women get a shampoo and a cut, and they get to keep all the clothes,” exclaims Christy Marlin, who learned about Working Wardrobes after receiving a flyer one day from someone soliciting clothing.

“I’d just quit the practice of law and I couldn’t have been happier to get rid of all my suits, but I wanted to get more involved.”

A mother of two boys 15 and 11, Christy had chaired numerous dinner auctions and other fundraising events for her children’s school and she knew with her experience and new-found free-time, she could help Working Women. So she approached Jerri Rosen, the organization’s executive director (and a 2006 Spirit of Philanthropy, Outstanding Founder nominee).

The two women came up with a guild called Designing Women, created as a fund-raising arm of Working Women, and spearheaded by Christy.

“We host two major events per year. One is a women’s high tea, which was held this June at the Balboa Bay Club where it raised $85,000. The other is a Black Tie and Tennies” (held this month at the Working Wardrobes Facility in Fountain Valley).

“The men wear black tie and tennis shoes and the women wear formal gowns with tennis shoes. A lot of the women decorate their tennis shoes. It’s just a fun spin on the black tie theme,” says Christy, who hopes to raise $125,000 at this year’s Black Tie and Tennies Event.

In sharp contrast to the glamour of a fund-raising gala at the Balboa Bay Club, are the grass-roots efforts of one Irvine woman and her husband half way around the world, on the tsunami ravaged Indonesian Island of Banda Aceh.

Louise van Broekhuizen and husband, Roy, created Laga Designs to help the Indonesians of Aceh rebuild their lives… one handbag at a time.

“My husband was asked by our pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest (Pastor Rick Warren, author of ‘The Purpose Driven Life’’) to travel to Banda Aceh two weeks after the tsunami hit in January, 2005, to distribute the funds the church had collected for the victims.”

Louise’s husband, Roy, continued to travel back to Indonesia every month, for several months, delivering funds and bringing in medical teams, when Louise decided to quit her job and join him; an option possible since the couple’s children were already grown.

“I happened upon villagers making these hand-bags and I brought them back and I got such an overwhelming response, that I decided this might be a way I could help,” she says.

A year later, when Roy’s job with the church was over, the couple found they couldn’t just walk away from the Indonesians of Banda Aceh, so the van Broekhuizens decided to go back on their own to form a company which would provide employment and income for those who’d lost their livelihoods as a result of the tsunami.

Louise and her husband hired a manager to train the villagers to do the embroidery and generally refine the bags, making them of a higher, more commercially viable, quality. Then they secured a factory and began employing 12 predominantly female workers in-house. The company also provides income for dozens of other Acehnese who supply the needed materials.

“Our personal goal is to help 1200 people hardest hit by the tsunami,” she says.

But even if Laga Designs grows to manufacture at an assembly-line-pace, according to
Louise, no two bags will ever be the same.

“The girls sew them on pedal driven sewing machines, hand guiding the patterns, which are traditional Acehnese designs, passed down from generation to generation. All the bags have different names relating to the tsunami, like Sehat which means healthy and
Hidup which means to live.” As for Laga, the Acehnese word for beautiful is Lagak, says Louise, “But they swallow the ‘k’ so you can’t hear it. So we decided to leave off the ‘k’.

As for distribution, Louise hopes to find more consultants to help sell the bags here in the U.S., which go for $9 to $15 for the small bag and $40 to $90 for the larger ones, with most all the proceeds going back to the victims of the tsunami.

“We’re living on our savings pretty much. Obviously there are some expenses that the business pays for, but the initial inventory is coming out of our pockets.”

Louise continues to travel back and forth between OC and Banda Aceh, importing the bags and training the workers but she knows that there is a long haul ahead. “It’s been two years and they’re still living in tents over there. It’s going to take a long time.”

Regardless how long it takes, these three OC Women are determined to make a difference in the lives of others, both here and half way around the globe; one home, one hand-bag, and one whole new wardrobe at a time.

For more information: www.laga-handbags.com;
www.families-forward.org; www.workingwardrobes.org