In recognition of the impact Justin Turner and his wife Kourtney made in the local community, the Los Angeles City Council in 2019 proclaimed January 22 as Justin Turner Day in Los Angeles. Turner was honored during a special ceremony at City Hall, which overlapped with the annual Los Angeles Dodgers Love L.A. Community Tour week. Turner then went to Dodger Stadium to help the team host their first-ever military enlistment day.
This tour goes all the way through the 6 rooms at Ace! Your tour guide will take you through all the basics and can provide help signing up as a member. Please DO NOT arrive more than 5 min. early or late as we will not be able to accommodate extra tours or early starts. If you get here really early there is a beer garden on the corner that serves a great pint or lemonade.
I think that whenever we have the opportunity to volunteer, we should always take it up, Vijay said. Also, I'm here with my friends, so it's a fun chance to do something nice.
Over the years, I've worked as a consultant on numerous federal grant projects from the US Department of Agriculture and elsewhere that focused on local economic development and were granted to nonprofits serving their communities. But since the 2024 elections, the focus of my work-and that of the small New Mexico-based consulting firm, Prospera Partners, that I lead-has shifted to help nonprofits develop strategies to sustain themselves despite federal cuts in funding and to programs that once supported their work.
PITMAN, New Jersey -- Randy Van Osten knew he had a calling to serve in the church since he was a teenager. That path led him to become the pastor at First Baptist Church of Pitman. There, he wears many hats in addition to his tie-dye shirts and patchwork pants. He and a team of volunteers contribute to the Pitman Food Pantry, a project that brings several church communities together to feed the neighborhood.
The new, bigger, better Goodwill store is just the latest sign of a booming thrift store business that amounts to a perfect storm for charities from the Salvation Army to Housing Works, collecting and selling clothing and other items. While companies are also fueling and feeding on a thrift boom, the nonprofits also offer tax benefits to donors and use sales to help support their missions.
Ron King, who co-founded the 75-acre Oscar's Place ranch in Hopland in 2021 with Phil Selway, now leads a team of more than 20 full-time employees who take in donkeys surrendered by owners or headed to auctions to be butchered for their hides. So far, the nonprofit has saved more than 400 donkeys, rehoming them to vetted adopters or letting the animals live out their lives on the ranch and another recently acquired property in Potter Valley.
Amid all the tumult of 2025, one idea keeps floating to the surface-the importance of connection. At NPQ, that means connecting with our readers. Connecting people across the sector with each other. Connecting people with ideas, and ideas to action. Here, we're featuring just a few of the columns and collections we produced in this year that kept us connected and in conversation.
As Teena Punjwani and Deepak Nasta take stock of the last year, they sigh. "I feel like I've lived too many lifetimes in this one lifetime," Punjwani said. The San Jose couple's life together was thrown into chaos in February with a heartbreaking diagnosis: their 5-year-old son, Jayaan, had brain cancer. His parents had sensed that something was off last winter, when Jayaan's writing skills nosedived at preschool and he mysteriously lost balance on the left side of his body.
Usman Saqib Zuberi with Courtesy of Aga Khan Trust for Culture + 24 Category: Institute, Community Assistant Architect: Mohtasim Rehman, Waseem Jamal, Hamza Munir Awan Lead Draftsman: Awais Arshad More SpecsLess Specs Usman Saqib Zuberi with Courtesy of Aga Khan Trust for Culture Text description provided by the architects. Vision Pakistan Welfare Trust (registered 2007) provides a second chance to marginalized youth (16+), especially non-literate low-income males of Ghauri Town, Islamabad. Funded through Zakat, it offers a 1-year program including meals, tailoring skills,
Val Coombs admits that she may be a problematic collector. She is constantly on the move, driving and driving and driving, across the region to estate sales, digging through packed garages, sorting through storage units. She sometimes takes her kids on these adventures, including a recent trip to Palm Springs where she went through a garage full of dishware, while her kids swam all day.
I love to take care of people to listen to people, says Carlini, gazing around her home from her wheelchair. I never thought I would be in this position. After dealing with severe leg problems and pain for five years and undergoing four failed surgeries to try and correct the situation Carlini had her left leg amputated in late 2024. The pain was gone, she remarks from the home she shares with two dogs, two birds and son Matteo.
Ms Moore has been involved with Cú Chuilainn Blood Bikes for the last six years, where she wears many hats, such as driver, secretary and fundraiser, with her coordination ensuring all medical supplies are delivered. These supplies can include blood samples, patient records, breast milk, or emergency medical supplies. The Blood Bikes volunteer is often the first point of contact for a family in crisis and a liaison with hospitals, easing the family's burden.
"It is life or death for me," Mitchell told The Associated Press, comparing preaching to the front lines of war. "There are souls that are hanging in the balance. ... I think about the fact that in that room somebody might hear the Gospel, and that might be their last opportunity."
Operations Director Alfonso Mendez tried to reassure them that if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up, he would rush them into the building and lock the doors. Still, they weren't convinced. "I'm very sad because everybody has the right to receive food," said Mendez, who relied on these food boxes for his wife and two small children when he fled Columbia in 2000. "It's not a good thing that they feel afraid to come."
With a new 30,000-square-foot facility at the Liberty BKYLN office-industrial building, God's Love is set to position itself for smarter, sustainable growth. In the years to come, this site will allow God's Love to increase its annual meal capacity to a staggering 6.5 million meals, a leap of over 50% from the 4.2 million medically tailored meals they delivered last fiscal year.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the group of trying to "attack boy-friendly spaces" when it made the decision to become "genderless" in a leaked memo to Congress obtained by NPR. The memo, which has not yet been sent, calls for the Department of Defense to withdraw medical and logistical assistance during the group's National Jamboree, an event with over 20,000 attendees, and to bar Scout troops from military installations.
I can imagine where you might be coming from with this question. Like so many of us, you may have seen strategy processes consumed by envisioning what could be, heavy on big-picture vision but light on what it might take to get there. The resulting strategies can struggle to offer practical guidance. On the flip side, I have also seen strategy processes cling too tightly to what we're comfortable committing to, inadvertently reinforcing organizational inertia.
When resources were limited and someone needed help, neighbors knew-you didn't have to ask-and the community in its own way showed up to help with what they could. From helping to take the kids to school to showing up at the hospital when someone was sick, neighbors stepped up with kindness to share their limited but valuable resources. These experiences shaped my perspective about how community stands with community by sharing resources and the forces that mobilize them: relationships.
Mastodon's creator, Eugen Rochko, is stepping down as CEO of the open source, decentralized social network and X rival, as part of the organization's transition to a non-profit structure, announced at the beginning of the year. The change is Mastodon's most significant leadership overhaul to date, and one designed to ensure Mastodon's longevity. As part of the organization's restructuring, Mastodon will be governed by a board of directors, which today includes Twitter co-founder Biz Stone,
Over the next 20 years, an estimated $84 trillion will change hands in the U.S.; some call this the Great Wealth Transfer, others the Silver Tsunami. This wealth is held in cash and assets, but also in the estimated 2.9 million private U.S. businesses that are owned by those over 55. Many retiring business owners will look to sell their company to private equity or larger conglomerates, while others will pass their businesses on to their heirs.
If you were involved in a youth group, sports team, summer camp, or after-school program as a child, chances are you can still recall the smell of the campfire, the sound of kids playing in the courtyard, or the friendships that helped shape those memories. Maybe it was the excitement of trying something new, like being away from home for the first time, the quiet pride of belonging when you joined a team, or the trusted adult who saw your potential and encouraged you
"It's an honor to serve as chairman of one of the nation's most exceptional arts organizations," Stull said in the news release. "As we approach the Festival's 20th anniversary, I look forward to building on its legacy of artistic excellence and furthering its mission to make the arts accessible to all."
While Cindy is irreplaceable, we hope that everyone who knows and loves EFF will help us find our next leader. First and foremost, we are looking for someone who'll meet this pivotal moment in EFF's history. As authoritarian surveillance creeps around the globe and society grapples with debates over AI and other tech, EFF needs a forward-looking, strategic, and collaborative executive director to bring fresh eyes and new ideas while building on our past successes.
Since 2001, Wikipedia has been the backbone of knowledge on the internet. Hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, it remains the only top website in the world run by a nonprofit. Unlike newer projects, Wikipedia's strengths are clear: it has transparent policies, rigorous volunteer oversight, and a strong culture of continuous improvement. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, written to inform billions of readers without promoting a particular point of view.
These terms included affirming the statement that we 'do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws,' Crary noted.
