Program ‘Adopts’ Needy La Verne Family

Margaret Callendar doesn’t like to ask strangers for help. But, as she watches her 4-year-old son playing in the front yard, she admits that her children come before her pride.

“I will not see my kids homeless or hungry,” she whispers intensely, as if making a promise to herself.

A short time ago, it had looked as if Callendar would have a hard time keeping that promise. Caught off-guard by some unexpected medical bills, she feared eviction from the La Verne home she shares with six of her eight children.

But in early January, she contacted Adopt-A-Family, a private organization made up of professionals who offer free services and support to needy families.

With that phone call, the Callendar family became the first in the San Gabriel Valley to receive the services of the organization, which has been helping people in South-Central Los Angeles since it started in 1983.

Although Callendar and her children are struggling, they say Adopt-A-Family has given them the support they need to continue fighting.

“I have the determination to change my life now,” said Callendar, 42. “This experience has taught me and my family survival. My goal is to be completely self-sufficient by the end of the year.”

Callendar, whose children at home range in age from 4 to 17, was getting by on child support and welfare when the trouble started: Her 6-year-old son was struck in the eye with a tree branch while playing, and needed eye surgery. Although she had Medi-Cal, it did not cover the entire cost of her son’s weeklong stay in the hospital. Suddenly, the $1,200 a month that she was receiving just wasn’t enough.

Her son recuperated without any permanent damage to his eye. But the medical bills that followed were overwhelming. She fell behind on her rent and worried that eviction would be inevitable. Finally, after trying to manage on her own for three months, she contacted Adopt-A-Family, which she had heard discussed on a morning television talk show.

Adopt-A-Family is not a “substitute welfare program,” said Dr. James Mays, co-founder of the organization. “It is more concerned about image-making and motivation.”

The program has enlisted 200 professionals in Southern California. Each agrees to a one-year commitment to provide free help to a needy family. Each adopted family receives the services of a doctor, dentist and lawyer to cover basic needs. Other volunteers available include police officers, ministers, teachers, psychologists, nutritionists, barbers and grocers.

“The idea is to get the community motivated to rally around the family and offer them any services they can,” Mays said. “For example, if there is a family who has a child with school problems, we contact one of our volunteer teachers to go out to that family. If the family needs some sort of counseling, we send them a psychologist or family therapist.”

Mays, former chief of cardiology at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, operates three Los Angeles medical clinics, and runs Adopt-A-Family out of one of them.

For the Callendar family, Mays has been a source of security and comfort. He brought them food and clothing, and paid part of their gas bill to allow them to save money for moving. And he has offered them friendship.

“It is not about money,” Callendar said. “It’s about having someone else on the other end . . . someone to interact with and share with . . . someone to ask advice of.”

Callendar, who grew up with her mother in the suburbs of San Francisco, said she is troubled by not being able to give her children the things she had growing up.

“My family lived very comfortably,” she said. “I had the piano and skating lessons. It is very hard for me to tell them, ‘No, you can’t have this.’ But the kids have been really understanding. . . . They are trying to make the best of it.”

With the help of Mays, Callendar and her family are “getting over the rough times,” she said. Although not faced with a formal eviction notice, they will soon move to a new house in San Dimas. Callendar, a high school graduate, is also trying to find a job she can do from her home, such as organizing office billing.

And she hopes to launch a branch of Adopt-A-Family in the San Gabriel Valley.

“I think she is the ideal person to start the program here,” Mays said. “They are going to be the model family for all those who are in need of support.”

Adopt-A-Family programs have been started in 13 states, and have assisted more than 300 families, Mays said. “We don’t operate out of a main office. People just hear about the program and start one in their own communities,” Mays said. “Often the families that have been part of the program want to help other families. . . . It is real nice to see that spirit.”

Callendar said families in need must remember that “there comes a time when you have to swallow your pride and reach out for help. . . . There are people out there who care.

“It’s hard to be optimistic when you’re going through it,” she continued. “But looking back, you get a real satisfaction knowing that you have made it.”