Craft Talks
by Lorine Parks
What are our Past Presidents up to today? In two craft talks, we learned the answer: they’re keeping busy and they’re still on the scene.
Darren Dunaway continues with Human Services Association in Bell Gardens. He joined our club in 1999, after his boss Susanne Sundberg (who went on to become our Rotary District Governor 2009-10) introduced him to Rotary.
“We’re a non-profit whose aim is to keep seniors in their homes as long as possible,” Darren said.
HSA is a community-based agency providing a wide range of social services to residents of southeast Los Angeles County. The agency was founded in 1940, when floods in the southeast area highlighted problems of poverty in Bell Gardens and surrounding communities. While HSA remains affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, all services are administered on a non-sectarian basis. Headquarters is at 6800 Florence Avenue in Bell Gardens, but there are many “congregate” sites.
“We offer the only Alzheimer’s Day Care Center in the area,” said Darren, “and we care for the care-givers too. Our motto is ‘where caring becomes doing.’”
Free county care management programs are open to seniors 60 and over. Emphasis is on those with the greatest economic and social need, who are “frail,” which means unable to perform at least two activities of daily living such as: walking, transferring, dressing, bathing, toileting, eating; or have a cognitive or other impairment.
Over 500 hot meals are prepared at the Center and served in homes and at senior centers, which serve two major purposes: nutrition, and socialization.
As a side-business,” Darren added, “we sell an additional 500 hot meals a day to organizations which are too small to have an efficient kitchen; Meals on Wheels is one of them.” Program Chair Roger Brossmer, who introduced Darren today, rides along with Meals on Wheels to deliver hot meals in Downey.
“We don’t do fund–raising,” Darren said. Instead, each of the 16 cities Human Resources serves, contributes to “fund in part” the organization.
“Part of my job,” says Darren, “is to go out there and sell the program.”
While Darren’s been busy, his children have been growing up: his daughter is now taller than her mother. Darren was Downey Rotary president ten years ago, in 2006-07. What will the next ten years bring?
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Larry Garces, club president 2014-15, works with “a great professional staff” at Security Land Escrow, where as the Escrow Officer he provides the kind of special services that makes other escrow companies refer their clients to him. “We do things others don’t do,” Larry says. The list of services includes: residential, business opportunity, ABC license transfers, 1031 Exchange, subdivisions, probates, commercial, bulk sales, income properties, refinance, mobile homes, and trust transfers.
Security Land Escrow Company was established in 1944 here in Downey by the original owner, Paul Wissack. "It's probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Southern California," according to Larry. “The only other claimant to the title would be Wilshire Escrow in Los Angeles,” he adds. Larry’s mom, Sara, started working for Wissack at age 17. She was the third owner of the company, which she bought in l976.
But life wasn’t always roses for Larry’s family. When his mother came to California in 1946 she found discrimination “because she was Hispanic.”
Born and raised in Downey, Larry, an only son, went to St. Marianne's School in Pico Rivera, and graduated from St. John Bosco High School. He attended UCLA for two years before taking business classes at Cal State Long Beach. He started as a messenger for the escrow company, then owned by his mother, at age 16. When he reached 21, Larry says he was running a desk. Larry took over ownership of the independent, medium-sized, Downey-based escrow firm of Security Land Escrow Company in 2002, after his owner-mom passed away.
“My job,” Larry says, “is to make sure everything on the property is clean.”
His 24-year-old son, Geoffrey, is a manager for ARC Light Theatres, while 22-year-old Daniel works for American Bank downtown. Nicole, 21, works for her dad at Security Land Escrow and is attending Hope International University. Larry has been a Downey Rotarian since 1989.
"I love my job," Larry says. "Every situation is different. We are basically a clearing house. For example, in 2013, the firm's opening escrow rate averaged 45 a month, while it closed 25 to 30 escrows. "This is a very good average in the industry.”