4/7/23 What a PHENOMENAL experience!!…read more My brother gave a heads up about doing a demo for this facility a few days ago. So I did not know what I was walking into and today I had the biggest surprise of all. The stunning, the spectacular the amazing Bev Lazo Gonzalez, welcomed my brother & I with such warmth & hospitality that it felt like she's a long lost family. She promptly greeted me for my birthday-something unexpected:)) We were introduced another Chef Virginia & the rest of the wonderful folks that operate this facility. I really had no clue what I was walking into, all I was told was that my brother was doing a demo. In addition, we were given a tour & Virginia spoke highly of facility's history & their main goal/mission-which is to serve the community by "advocating & providing services for individuals with intellectual & developmental disabilities (IDD), and to actively support their full inclusion and participation, and I'll ask aspects of the community through our programs and services." This facility has catering services by the Culinary Arts Program, launching in May 2023: Vocational Retail Program (will provide an opportunity to shop brand new merch at great prices that'll support The Arc & the IDD community), launching in June 2023, Reagan Center & Banquet Hall Rental. This is all exciting news & I couldn't help but listen intently to Virginia & Chef Bev that I almost forgot my previous engagement with my sister at the Japanese Garden at 2 pm. They've created a masterpiece of ceviche for my brother & I as they shyly informed us of their lovely dish. It was so beautiful & flavorful. I couldn't eat it all but I tasted it & it was packed with such tang & zest!! The rest was for to go :)) I had to hastily make an exit to be at my next engagement with my sister at the CSULB Japanese Garden & apologize to Chef Bev but was met with another surprise!! They made a 5 flavor cookie in a tin with my bday wish on it & a candle, they sang ...I almost cried. Then they handed me with parting gifts-cookie making kits for Easter!! The day couldn't be more perfect! I can't wait to tell my friends later on our Zoom meeting for my friends child who is on the Spectrum. It's such a wonderful day. 5 stars all around & it's simply fabulous to learn that such a program & place exists! You guys ROCK! More power to you! Chef Bev & Chef Virginia, I am honored & humbled. I appreciate what you do & for what do you for the community. We shall meet again!

Amazing programs! Amazing staff that have patience and love working with individuals with…read moreintellectual, developmental disabilities!!

I LOVE the Compton Initiative. I have been helping out now for 9 years. When I started…read morevolunteering, we had a couple hundred volunteers. It has now grown to over 1,000 people showing up for 4 hours on a Saturday to help beautify the city of Compton. I have volunteered over 30 times now. I do not say this to brag. I say this to show how dedicated myself and 1,000's more are to this cause. The Compton Initiative is committed to making a difference in the city of Compton for 40 years. We have been doing it 11 years so far. If you want a cool volunteer experience, join us. The more, the merrier! You can help paint a house, paint a school, paint a mural, pick up some trash or do some gardening. It is such an honor and a blessing seeing the homeowners face when they see the difference in their home after we are done. If you are looking for a place to volunteer and make a difference, go to www.JustDoGood.org.

Where do I start.. Well first off praise the lord I'm very pleased with the friendly staff we are…read moretalking men women and children all beautiful volunteering their free time to get the residential homes in COMPTON together and most of them did not even live close to the city. My parents left me a home and both of them died in this home with cancer..now here I was diagnosed with cancer always was depressed coming to this home because of my parents I was grieving a whole lot. But since Paster Ed, Jody Mike and his wonderful team came through I'm very motivated out of depression and ready too move forward in life while I'm in remission. So here are some pics I hope you enjoy. GOD bless and please support this organization.

Natalie from Daisy's Monarchs was INCREDIBLE as a guest speaker to my class of 20 TKers. She came…read moreprepared with worksheets that emphasize appropriate academic skills, provided us with milkweed seeds so we can do our part in helping the Monarch butterflies, and brought so many hands-on props. She brought in a milkweed plant that had real caterpillar eggs and caterpillars to help visualize the different life cycle stages. She brought game-like manipulatives that my TKers found really engaging. My class learned so much from her because she is so passionate. She has high energy, uses kid-friendly language, and was organized. I can't wait to work with her again next spring for my next class. Please support this local non-profit- her passion is unmatched!

Recently, I was hired as a videographer by Aron Levinson from B Goodly to shoot their debut event…read moreat the Veterans Affairs Japanese Garden in Los Angeles and it was nothing short of awesome from my lens. At the start of the day, B Goodly provided transportation right at the doorstep for the employees of BenLabs and an awesome host, Danice, who provided super fun ice breakers (Head's Up and Liar Liar) for the crew on the bus while we drove to location. At the garden, the crew was assigned a variety of tasks to complete which included raking leaves, hammering down sticks of bamboo, and creating knots to tie around the bamboo so it could be used as a new barrier for the pond. While volunteering, the camaraderie and super positive energy from the crew was off the charts. By the end of the event, it was clear to see the impact the BenLabs crew had made at the VA Garden and it really showed with the work they did together around the grounds. Afterwards, a quick hop back on the bus and we were back at the BenLabs headquarters where it was time to say goodbye. Looking back, it was such a privilege being able to lurk behind the scenes with my camera and watch the day of volunteering unfold. The amount of smiles and laughs shared between the crew was impossible to count and I really felt apart of the team due to the friendliness of all the BenLabs employees. I can't thank Aron Levinson of B Goodly enough for creating such a fun, welcoming, and easy way for a large group to get away from their phones and work life for a few hours of volunteering which has an everlasting impact on the community and people that attend. Can't wait for the next event!

Toastmasters, founded in 1924, is an international organization that teaches people public speaking…read moreand leadership skills. During meetings, members give and evaluate speeches, and the speeches are either longer, prepared speeches, about five to ten minutes long, or short speeches, generally one to three minutes long, made up on the spot, inspired by a question or prompt. There are clubs all over the world, and clubs can be public, open to anyone, or they can be closed corporate clubs, meaning the club is only open to employees of the organization. My workplace has a corporate club, and I joined in November 2015, curious about Toastmasters. I'm not afraid of public speaking, and I love telling stories (as is evident from my Yelp reviews), so Toastmasters was the perfect creative outlet for me. At the time I joined, we had a thriving club, but over time, the club has died off, as people left the organization, lost interest, or got overwhelmed with their workload. Despite our dwindling membership (unfortunately we couldn't recruit members of the public), we continued on, and I was elected President in 2017. While each club has their own rules and style, Toastmasters has a certain format and protocol that clubs are supposed to follow. For example, there are executive members that are elected every year (President, VP of Membership, Sergeant at Arms, just to name a few), with specific job duties; there's a certain format to be followed during a meeting, complete with an agenda and people taking on certain roles, such as chair, evaluator, timer (the speeches are timed), and a grammarian, who records the number of times someone says "um" and "ah" and other fillers; and there are speech projects you work on to get certificates and designations (I'm a "Competent Communicator"). In addition, Toastmasters holds speech contests (I've been in a few), provides training for club officers, and more. There are also dues payable to Toastmasters every six months. At first, Toastmasters was fun, and I improved my speaking and leadership skills, made friends, and got to know my co-workers better; it was great! But after nearly four years, it's no longer fun. Toastmasters spams members with emails (as President, I get more emails than regular members), harasses them to go to club officer training, and pressures clubs to hold open houses and events to recruit members and such. The thing is, as a closed corporate club, we CAN'T easily recruit members, as we are not open to the public, and Toastmasters always wants clubs to hold events in March, during fiscal year end, the busiest time of year for our workplace, or in the middle of summer, when many people are on vacation. They just don't understand that THEIR schedule conflicts with that of the corporate world and are not willing to be flexible on things, or that our members, who hold club meetings during work time, do not want to go to some bullshit training after work or on a Saturday morning. (Also, they only tell you about the training less than a week before, not giving you enough notice to make plans to go.) I've met other Toastmasters members at contests and events*, and for some members, Toastmasters is their LIFE -- they go to several meetings a week, go to several training sessions a year, organize and participate in tons of contests, go to the very expensive conferences, etc. That's fine, that's their jam, but it's not mine, and they can't seem to comprehend that not all members are as into it as they are, or have a life outside of Toastmasters, and they just push and push. So after being in Toastmasters for nearly four years, two as President of our club, I decided not to renew my membership. Perhaps I may re-join later, but I've gotten what I needed out of it, I'm busy with life outside of Toastmasters (work, school, my recent marriage, other interests and hobbies), and their cult-like pushiness has soured my experience. If I were rating Toastmasters when I first joined, I would have given them at least four stars, but it's definitely now a two star experience for me. *I met KAV through Toastmasters. Read my review about "World Financial Group" for the background on KAV.

Toastmasters, as created by Ralph Smedley, is a wonderful idea that has stood the test of time all…read morethroughout the world. I have enjoyed my time in Toastmasters since 2009. However, the new headquarters is so unresponsive that I had to stay stuck on Icebreaker for 7 months on one path because they refused to resolve the issue. The issue is that they sent me a Level 3 manual before sending me a Level 1 manual. Of course, they made things worse by telling my president that he had to go into BaseCamp to approve the completion of Levels 1-2 when I had only given the Icebreaker. This, of course, makes BaseCamp completely unusable. When I do submit my Level 1 completion, they naturally won't be able to do anything with it. It was good that I was able to work on another path while waiting 7 months for this one to be fixed, but there was a point when I really wanted and needed to work on the path filled with roadblocks to move forward. Every time I contacted the Education Program, they responded that they hope my issue has been resolved. If they actually bothered to respond, then all I got was a list of links, which I could have found on the website. Every response is a canned response. Either a robot is staffing the Educational Program (the most important program there is for Toastmasters), or someone is getting paid for playing hooky. The reason I marked the organization as reliable is because the program itself is reliable when put into practice, but I was not referring to the service from Headquarters.

I found Free Arts while searching for a place to volunteer at involving children and art. Free…read moreArts is a wonderful organization which provides four different art programs to choose from. My love for art and compassion for children is the reason why I am working toward becoming an Art Therapist. Since I can't practice art therapy now, Free Arts is a great stepping stone to get involved with! I am so thrilled to be apart of the Free Arts team! And, I look forward to my learning experience here. Also, the staff really helps you feel comfortable and provides various resources to better equip the volunteers as well as families being served. Check out Free Arts for Abused Children at Freearts.org :D

My son loved his one week summer art and photography class. I loved receiving the photos when he…read morecame home. Thank you ladies for all being so warm and kind! They're very attentive

Stay Gallery located in downtown Downey is a precious gem in our city. They feature local artist as…read morewell as events for the community. Thank you Stay Gallery for your February Family Paint Day Event last week. The guided acrylic paint dau was so much fun. Please look them up! They have events posted on their website for a fun family day. They also host private events! There's a parking structure directly across the street. Enjoy the Downey mural on Downey Ave. painted by local artist depicting several Downey landmarks! So proud to be from this city for over 20 years.

My 52-year-old aunty, who has Down syndrome, has been attending Ambitions Clubhouse Day Program for…read moreabout two years now, and I truly can't say enough wonderful things about it. It has been completely life-changing for her. Before joining, she didn't have many opportunities for social interaction during the day. Now she is absolutely thriving. She enjoys the daily social activities, and most importantly, she looks forward to going to the Clubhouse every single day. The program does an amazing job creating structured days filled with engaging activities, and they even organize occasional outings into the community, which she loves. The meals are also great -- breakfast and lunch are served. The staff truly care about the members and create a welcoming, positive environment where everyone feels included and valued. If you're looking for a supportive and enriching day program for a loved one, I highly recommend Ambitions Clubhouse. It has made such a meaningful difference in my aunty's life.

I like ambitions a lot! They go on CE and exercise. They go to accessibility, and RA. They do class…read moresignups once a month and holiday parties. They have a good menu and help someone out every day, according to their diet. I would consider taking a tour. With professional staff, and even clients I assure you that the ambitions community center of Long Beach will welcome you. Whether a client looking for placement, or opportunities for employment, they will exceed your expectations with open arms.