Shalimar Center receives $10,000 donation

Veronica Duran

WEST SIDE -- The Shalimar Learning Center received a donation worth

$10,000 Friday -- one the center can put to use immediately in

partnership with T.H.I.N.K. Together centers throughout Orange County.

Costa Mesa-based AON Consulting, a human resources organization,

donated 10 Pentium computers to the center. Each one is worth $1,000.

“Our goal is to do things for the community,” said Bruce Caldwell,

senior vice president and office manager of AON Consulting. “The kids are

the future.

“Anything we can do to keep them in school and off the streets will

benefit us in the long run,” he said.

The computers will help the center’s mission to build children’s

self-esteem by providing a safe and secure place for homework, tutoring

and educational programs, said Peter DeSoto, the center’s new executive

director.

The computers will quickly allow the center to increase its ability to

help the nearly 250 Spanish-speaking children it serves each week, he

added.

The center, founded by Randy Barth, will celebrate its fifth-year

anniversary Sept. 20, the day it reopens after summer vacation.

Volunteers, parents, administration and teachers will be invited to the

event, DeSoto said.

“[The center] is a neighborhood model,” DeSoto said. “This

neighborhood has a problem with gangs and drugs and the center is meant

to target [these problems] strategically to help the kids.”

Most of the center’s funding comes from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian

Church, which holds the largest pool of volunteers, DeSoto said. St.

Joachim Church and institutions such as UCI and Vanguard University also

work with the center.

DeSoto stressed that children need to be nurtured, loved and shown

direction. He said if this is not done, society will face some serious

problems.

“Kids who are fortunate to have a person pour their love into them

will have a lot more opportunity to succeed and grow than those who have

never had one person show them love,” DeSoto said.

Besides DeSoto, the staff of Shalimar also includes two full-time

workers, a director, a part-time co-director and a teen director. Located

on Wallace Avenue in Costa Mesa, the center is interested in volunteers.

For more information, call (949) 646-5797.