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Longtime friends and Five Acres supporters Nicole Rasic and Trish Gonzales will co-chair the organization’s 2022 fundraising gala in Pasadena.
Amid foster care upheaval, Five Acres hosts gala
By Luke Netzley Pasadena Weekly Deputy Editor
The American child welfare system has been upended since the start of the pandemic as the past two years have seen lengthy suspensions of crucial services for foster children.
According to two federal child welfare reports from November 2021 and January 2022, the number of children entering foster care dropped 14% in the first six months of the pandemic and numerous other child well-being indicators, including reports of child abuse, neglect and other forms of maltreatment dropped around 4%. In a joint statement during the onset of the pandemic in 2020, leaders from UNICEF and the World Health Organization stated that lockdown measures could potentially expose children to an increased risk of violence at home.
The strains of the pandemic on the foster care system have been felt strongly in Los Angeles, as the leader of county’s child welfare system Bobby Cagle said he was stepping down last year due to overwhelming pressures.
“They’re in turmoil, and these kids are left in the lurch trying to figure out, ‘Where are my parents?’” said Nicole Rasic, co-chair of the Five Acres 2022 fundraising gala.
As a Southern California children’s foster care agency founded in 1888, Five Acres has served more than 10,000 children and family members across six counties. Their mission is to provide permanent, loving homes for all children in their care and to continuously develop effective means of caring for children and families in crisis.
To support the work that they do across Southern California, Five Acres is holding its annual gala on Saturday, May 14, at the historic Joe Fehrenbacher Estate in Pasadena. The event is their largest fundraiser of the year and was canceled last year due to the pandemic, placing a heightened importance on community involvement for this year’s gala.
In consistency with the gala’s theme, “Starry Starry Night,” tall hedges will be draped with twinkling lights, glowing lanterns will float in the pool and children’s wishes on stars will greet guests as they enter the property to the evening’s festivities.
“We had a hundred children relay their wishes to us and those wishes will be granted by people donating money,” gala co-chair Trish Gonzales said. “They’re very heart wrenching. We went over them yesterday and they’re anything from ‘I want to meet a YouTube star’ to ‘I’d like my little sister to have a mom.’”
Donations through the Starry Starry Night gala will also help advance the work that Five Acres does with LA County foster care.
“They support over 30,000 children in the Los Angeles County foster care system,” Gonzales said. “The end goal is to end up with permanency, for these children to be adopted. I think the percentile is close to 80% permanency, which is way above the average.
As longtime friends, Gonzales was introduced to Five Acres through Rasic, who became involved with the organization as a volunteer during independent study at high school. Rasic worked with Five Acres’ Respite Care service, which allows one family to support another for a short amount of time, whether it’s one day to one week, while the foster child’s family takes time for self-care or a family emergency.
“I honestly just went to play with the kids and give them some sort of normalcy,” Rasic said. “The biggest takeaway for me when I was volunteering was that I couldn’t be another one of those people that was just here one day and gone the next. I needed to show them a regular appearance, that someone would always be there and show up.”
Rasic has gone on to serve as a gala sponsor and committee member for the last six years, and is now a co-chair for this year’s gala alongside Gonzales. Both Rasic and Gonzales insisted that it does not take much to make a difference and that seemingly insignificant forms of support, such as a friendly face or encouraging word, can make an immense impact on children in need.
“These kids are our future, and we can’t forget about them,” Gonzales said. “They are little, but way beyond their years, which is a very sad situation. Frequently, we’ll see siblings, the oldest being five, trying to take care of and make sure that they’re 3-year-old and their 2-year-old little brother or sister stay together. Can you imagine at 5 years old having that on your shoulders? As a mother, it just breaks my heart.”
Five Acres Annual Gala WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14 WHERE: The John Fehrenbacher Estate, 600 Columbia Street, Pasadena COST: $325 INFO: 5acres.org
Home Instead Pasadena general manager Elizabeth Jenyo and president Dr. Greg Sanchez present Pasadena Village executive director Katie Brandon with a $10,000 check in support of its mission to keep seniors connected through activities and support groups.
Home Instead Pasadena gives $55K to local organizations
By Luke Netzley Pasadena Weekly Deputy Editor
In 1994, Paul and Lori Hogan of Omaha founded Home Instead to provide in-home care for Paul’s 90-year-old grandmother, Eleanor Manhart. After she began receiving personalized care that allowed her to age safely in the family home, Manhart Home Instead Senior Care Pasadena. With the franchise’s new Founders Award, Sanchez wants to direct the donation money not only toward programs that support low income seniors, but also to nonprofits that are finding creative ways to aid seniors enjoyed another decade of life.
Over 28 years after Paul and Lori founded Home Instead, the company has grown into the largest in-home care network in the country, providing personalized care, support and education from over 1,200 franchise locations, including Pasadena.
On April 20, the Pasadena Home Instead office presented a $10,000 check to the Altadena Senior Center. The donation comes as part of a $55,000 sum awarded by Home Instead Inc. after the Pasadena franchise was honored with the company’s annual Founders Award in recognition of successful business operations and community support.
The Pasadena Home Instead office, owned by Dr. Greg Sanchez and Carter Prescott, will also donate to the Pasadena Senior Center, Pasadena Meals on Wheels, Pasadena Village, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, and YMCA of La Cañada.
“We felt that it was important to give back as all these organizations have really stepped up and pivoted into the pandemic and helped support seniors in their homes as well as fight senior isolation, which is a major problem that was exacerbated during the pandemic,” Sanchez said.
As a family caregiver for his 97-year-old grandmother, Dolores Magaña, Sanchez has long had an affinity for the aging population and jumped at the opportunity to own a business that served seniors and their families in the San Gabriel Valley.
Sanchez joined the Home Instead network in 2015 and serves as the director of with specific needs. For instance, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital has partnered YMCA La Cañada to host an event called “caregiver’s night off,” which brings together groups of both caregivers and dementia patients to enjoy a variety of social activities and refreshments. “That’s something new within that community, so we felt that it was important to donate to that program so that it could get off the ground and continue thriving,” Sanchez said. At the Home Instead global convention in late March, the company announced that the Pasadena franchise had also won the Home Instead Spirit Award based on the service hours provided to the office’s client base. The award comes with a second allocation of $55,000 to be donate to the franchise’s chosen nonprofits. “For organizations like ours, it’s really about giving back to the community and helping our local franchise owners become leaders within their community,” Sanchez described. “Our success lies in the fact that we believe wholeheartedly in the motto, ‘To us, it’s personal,’ because that’s how we operate. That is our driving force in all we do when it comes to the care of our client population.”
Home Instead Senior Care Pasadena homeinstead.com
Tournament House open for public tours
By Pasadena Weekly Staff
After two years of closing its doors to the public, the Tournament House is offering tours.
Throughout the tour, guests can learn the history of the house and hear facts Upon Ada’s death in 1958, the Wrigley family presented the property to the city of Pasadena with the request that it become the base of operations for the Tournament of Roses. about the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game.
Led by volunteer members of the Heritage Committee, one-hour free tours at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 4. Masks are required for all public House Tours, regardless of vaccination status.
Located in Pasadena, the house was once home to chewing gum mogul William Wrigley Jr. and his wife, Ada. Surrounding Tournament House is the Wrigley Gardens, which spans 4 1/2 acres and features more than 1,500 varieties of roses, camellias and annuals. Reservations are not required, and guests are asked to arrive 10 minutes prior to start time. For groups of 10 or more, call 626-449-4100 or email membership@ tournamentofroses.com.
