On May 11th at Penny Lane’s North Hollywood location we had our Garden Party to support our EDGY: Embracing the Diversity of GLBTQ Youth; conference as well as our growing LGBTQ+ focused programs. Penny Lane, if you don’t know, has provided services for LGBTQ+ youth since our founding in 1969, long before many others even considered it. In the spirit of helping others to help more LGBTQ+ individuals and families EDGY was begun as a self-funded opportunity for those in our industry to meet, connect and learn how best to serve these communities and hence came the Garden Party; a more informal yet successful fund raising event.
Saturday May 11th was the perfect day for the event as it was sunny with a breeze and a high amount of happiness in the air. Volunteers and staff had spent part of the prior day and the morning setting up tables, chairs, a dance floor, stage, and so much more. The doors opened at 4pm and the people with their smiles and pride in helping came in. There were alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as well as tray passed Hors d’oeuvres and food stations for the tummies, mingling and socializing for the mind and a beautiful garden setting for the other senses. A live DJ, dancing and an amazing drag show brought out the fun while some heart warming presentations and stories inspired all in attendance. Art prepared by some of our LGBTQ+ clients were auctioned off with part of the proceeds going back to the artist. The event lasted a few hours but I know anyone that was there was touched and moved long after they left the party.
Thank you to the internal committee who worked so hard to put on the event as well as the volunteers who were invaluable during the event. We are grateful to all who came and supported. Through sponsorships, donations, raffle ticket sales and ticket sales we made some money for our programs and for that we at Penny Lane are thankful. We hope to see some of you at EDGY at the Skirball Center on June 13th and in the meantime we wish everyone a happy Pride Month.
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Thursday May 30th marked the 15th Anniversary Celebration for Abbey Road which was held in the garden of Penny Lane’s North Hollywood office. Our inaugural fundraising event was a great success in large part due to our Sponsors who demonstrated their companys’ commitment to the development of affordable housing in Los Angeles County by providing critically needed funds to provide a Road to Home for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. We are so grateful for their support!
Those who attended enjoyed a fun-filled evening with delicious food prepared by the Penny Lane kitchen staff who cook for our transitional housing programs and entertainment which included some amazing tunes from Penny Lane Board member and songstress extraordinaire, Kathy Cunningham and music to make you want to move from DJ Max. Our Sun Commons resident manager, Liz Rosales, and assistant manager, Evelyn Lopez, provided tours of our recently completed 103 unit building adjacent to Penny Lane’s office building, for interested partygoers so they could gain a deeper understanding of how we utilize both our project funding as well as our philanthropic dollars. The tour was comprised of indoor and outdoor community spaces such as our tot lot, community room, kitchen and outdoor barbeque area, and our gym and teen lounge, as well as the property management and resident services offices. One of our residents, Renee Durcan, was gracious enough to open up her home for the tours and resident Ronald Timmermeyer spoke at the event.
As the housing development arm of Penny Lane Centers, Abbey Road is guided by its mission to foster hopes and dreams through the development of affordable housing. Since 2013, Abbey Road has completed 495 units of housing and currently has another 240 units in development throughout Los Angeles County. Our housing developments provide safe and nurturing environments to ensure the long-term success for low-income and homeless youth, emancipated foster youth, at-risk families, and veterans.
Thank all of you for supporting us and for understanding the importance of the work we are doing every day!
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