Allison Oster
Senior Public Relations Specialist
(626) 815-4518
Canyon City Foundation Supports Community Outreach
December 21, 2006
AZUSA, Calif. –
Azusa Pacific University recently submitted and received multiple awards for project grants from Azusa’s Canyon City Foundation. Bryan Lamkin, Susan Smith, and Kristin Gurrola received grants for the Azusa Women’s Club Oral History Project, Neighbor-to-Neighbor Program, and Azusa Calculates. The recipients were honored and presented with checks during a celebration event on Mon., Nov. 27.
APU Professor of History Bryan Lamkin, Ph.D., received an $18,500 grant for the Azusa Women’s Club Oral History Project. The club, founded in 1901, became an integral part of the city of Azusa, participating in building and beautification projects, scholarships, and other philanthropic activities. Lamkin developed an oral history project to capture the story of the women’s club and its members. He, along with his fall 2006 History of California class, the Center for Academic Service Learning and Research, and senior members of the Azusa Women’s Club, interviewed nine women to develop recordings and transcripts that will become part of the Special Collections section of APU’s library and will be available for future research. Additionally, Lamkin plans to work with the Azusa Heritage Project as well as the Azusa Historical Society to train community volunteers in capturing oral histories.
“The grant enables us to investigate avenues for future oral history and community heritage undertakings, including a cooperative venture with the existing Azusa Heritage Project,” said Lamkin.
Director of APU’s Neighborhood Wellness Center and Associate Professor of Nursing Susan McKeever Smith, MN, RN, received a $22,000 grant for the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Program. The program aims to provide health education through volunteer service to Azusa residents, specifically the Latino community. The program’s neighbor-to-neighbor theme involves volunteers going to a neighbor to talk and provide information about healthy living. A certified diabetic educator and health experts will train volunteers about eating well, the importance of exercise, sicknesses, and performing a verbal diabetic risk assessment. “There are so many people who are at risk for diabetes and other diseases and have no idea,” said Smith. “We want to focus on primary prevention and making healthy lifestyle choices.”
In addition, clients of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor program will receive computer education so they can access information about nutrition and exercise on the Internet, as well as a “Kitchen Cabinet” that provides cooking lessons for traditional healthy meals. All services offered will be bilingual.
Kristin Gurrola, associate director of APU’s Center for Academic Service Learning and Research, received a $6,640 grant for the new Azusa Calculates Program. The grant funding will help establish the program that has been much anticipated by the community. Similar to the existing Azusa Reads Program, the program provides free math tutoring to eighth grade students from the Azusa Unified School District. Azusa Calculates demonstrates APU’s commitment to encourage educational success. “I am most excited that we are continuing partnerships with the school district and city of Azusa, in real tangible ways that will support and encourage the youth of the community,” said Gurrola.
The Canyon City Foundation is an association between the city of Azusa and the Monrovia Nursery Company, dedicated to promoting social welfare, education, and the arts. Established as a result of the sale of the Monrovia Nursery property, the foundation received a corpus of $2.5 million from the nursery to provide funding for innovative projects for nonprofit charitable organizations and government entities that serve as catalysts for community building in Azusa. More funds will be added to the foundation as homes in the Rosedale development are resold, with half of one percent of the sale price going to the foundation. The foundation gives special priority to projects that increase community self-sufficiency and capacity. For more information, visit canyoncityfoundation.org/about.html.
Featured in TIME magazine and ranked as one of the nation’s best by U.S.News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Azusa Pacific is a comprehensive, Christian, evangelical university, committed to God First and known for excellence in higher education. Azusa Pacific’s main campus lies just 26 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, while its seven Southern California regional centers bring convenience and extend quality programming. The university offers more than 50 areas of undergraduate study, 22 master's degrees, and 6 doctorates to a total student population of more than 8,100.
