Anook Athletic Clothing Distribution

ECS Head Start parents choose from the selection of new clothing donated by Anook Athletics. October 2024.

SAN DIEGO — This month, ECS received its largest in-kind donation to date — a collection of brand-new athletic wear from Anook Athletics, valued at about $725k.

A community distribution event was held at the ECS Family Engagement Center (FEC) Wednesday evening in partnership with Anook Athletics International Community Foundation (ICF), and This Is About Humanity. Head Start Parents attending a Head Start Policy Committee meeting had first pick of items from the array of choices. The tables of clothes stayed up the next day for Head Start’s Fall Resource Fair. The clothing will remain available at the FEC for ECS clients and community members as long as items are still available.

Anook Athletics is an activewear brand designed with pregnant and post-partum women in mind, although anyone can wear it. CEO and Founder Allie Lindenmuth attended the distribution event. The donation came as a result of Anook Athletics clearing its inventory, but Lindenmuth knew she wanted to do something big with the remaining product.

“I truly believe [giving] is in my DNA,” Lindenmuth said. She shared that she has been involved with nonprofits and service work since childhood. That desire to give back was no different in this instance. “This is like this perfect little bow of giving back to the people I always really wanted to serve,” she said.

Lindenmuth grew up in San Diego, which made the donation all the more special for her. “I got a little teary,” she said. “I hadn’t even fully thought about that full circle moment, so it does feel nice to be able to donate half of the product in Austin [Texas] where we were based and then to San Diego, my hometown.”

“This is the closing of a seven-year journey of starting up Anook and seeing it through, then closing the door, and instead of letting it be this sad experience of just seeing the loss and letting go of a company, saying ‘look how beautiful this is,’ and getting to be here and enjoy this experience,” Lindenmuth said.

ECS, Anook Athletics, ICF, and This Is About Humanity make a difference through collaboration. October 2024.

The donation was made possible through the partnership of ICF and This Is About Humanity.

Julie Campos, ICF’s fund development officer, commented on the role ICF played in the exchange. “As resource mobilizers, we facilitate the connection between generous donors like Anook Athletics to nonprofit partners and leaders like ECS who strive to create that social change in their communities and address societal needs,” she said.

The event also carried meaning for her on a personal level. “As a soon-to-be new mom, this event really hits home. I have so much love and respect for Anook Athletics since they are a maternity activewear brand. Their clothing is really made to fit every mom and woman throughout different stages of their lives. It allows them to feel confident and stay active in their journey,” Campos said.

Yolanda Walther-Meade, one of This Is About Humanity’s co-founders, attended the event, as well. “This Is About Humanity is so pleased to be able to join forces with ICF and ECS Head Start,” Walther-Meade said. She expressed that the donation exemplifies her passion for “bringing together different organizations for the benefit of families and children in our community.”

As Head Start parents mingled and selected Anook items, Zamorano Head Start parent and Policy Committee Representative Alejandra Sotelo Solis offered her insights on the donation.

“When we have organizations that give back to the community… to encourage parents and adults to get out, do activities, but also to have the proper attire to do these activities — whether it be yoga or running around chasing the kids on the playground — I think it’s really important,” she said. “When we look good, we feel good and we’re able to give back to our children in a way that makes us feel good.”

Thank you Anook Athletics for your generous spirit, and ICF and This Is About Humanity for making this incredible gift possible.

To learn how you can support ECS’ work, check out the “Get Involved” tab on our website, www.ecscalifornia.org.

New high-quality women’s athletic wear on display at the FEC.
October 2024. 

ECS Head Start staff encouraging active, healthy lifestyles for South Bay families. October 2024.

A Legacy of Love and Support

SAN DIEGO — ECS could not serve the San Diego community without the generosity and dedication of donors like Steve and Elaine Turnbull. The Turnbulls have been a part of the ECS community for many years; Steve is a former president of the ECS Board of Directors, and Elaine has helped organize the annual fundraising gala for many years.  

Steve and Elaine at the ECS gala. May 2022.

Their relationship with ECS goes even deeper than their service to the organization. When Elaine’s brother needed drug and alcohol treatment, Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC) brought him in right away. “His life totally turned around,” Elaine said. The Turnbulls also had a granddaughter who was a foster child at one point. “When I heard what Para Las Familias (PLF) did... to get [children] to bond to their parents or foster parents, to experience that and kind of have a do-over, that really appealed to me that they could do that much for kids,” Steve said. Since then, ECS has been special to the Turnbulls.  

“My heart is really into all the things they do,” Steve remarked. “Drug and alcohol recovery is an important thing to us in our past and our family. Para Las Familias is an important one, foster kids and others who often go into that program. Head Start, I like to see it grow in all of its dimensions... I just think [ECS] is growing, and I love watching it thrive.” 

The Turnbulls are looking forward to this year’s fundraising gala. The event allows them to give back, make connections, and see change in the making. Elaine shared that they enjoy “meeting all kinds of people throughout the diocese and making a lot of connections that way... we invite people that we might be able to get involved working with ECS.” Their connections expand to those receiving support from ECS programs as well. “Talking to clients and becoming acquainted... to be able to go the next year and you know them by name, you can tell a lot of good is getting done,” Steve remarked. “We’re making a difference in their lives; many of those clients are now giving back to ECS, as well,” Elaine added.  

The funds that ECS receives through donations are vital for program impact. Steve shared that donations have helped the growth of PLF and CERRC. Many smaller necessities also depend on donations, ensuring that clients have everything they need. “Things many of us take for granted are so important to those individuals,” Elaine said. 

ECS aims to uplift the entire San Diego community. “You don’t have to be an Episcopalian to be a beneficiary of ECS,” Steve said, to which Elaine followed up “It’s about all of God’s people.” The Turnbulls have been longtime ECS donors, and the organization is grateful they continue to choose ECS as a place of giving. Steve explained that they keep choosing ECS because they see it as “well established, has a reputation for caring, broad, really works to meet the needs of San Diego,” he said. “They do a lot of good services and I think the services they provide fit. They dovetail with some of the needs that the county health can’t, for the homeless for example... that’s worth investing in.”  

Join ECS for the 2024 Moonlight Ball to celebrate the impact of ECS and contribute to the transformative efforts being made. “It’s one of the topnotch organizations, nonprofits in the city,” Steve said. With the help of donors like the Turnbulls, ECS can help ensure that “more people are getting the services needed and information needed to move in a positive direction,” Elaine said. For more information on ECS’ programs, the Moonlight Ball, and ways to give, visit https://www.ecscalifornia.org/.  

ECS Secures Three Grants for Uptown Safe Haven, Head Start, & Para Las Familias

ECS is grateful to those who support our work and our clients. December 2022.

ECS secured three grants from September to November: 

1) $2,923 from Women of St. James by-the-Sea for Uptown Safe Haven (UTSH).

2) $12,500 from the PNC Foundation for Head Start (HS).

3) $5000 from The Big Lots Foundation for Para Las Familias (PLF).

As a nonprofit organization, grants are a valuable resource that helps fund our programs and services and requires a lot of time and preparation to secure.

Our programs impact the daily lives of thousands of San Diegans in need of fundamental health and human services support. These families and clients depend on us to provide high-quality services with care — clients like River, an UTSH resident since August. Before moving to UTSH, River participated in another program that did not achieve effective results. Since becoming a resident of our program, River has enjoyed the freedom of feeling respected in a safe environment while building the skills needed to create mental and physical stability to pursue a better life.  So, partnerships with organizations like those mentioned above are essential in accomplishing our mission.

Grant Highlights:  

In September, the Women of St. James by-the-Sea generously awarded a $2,923 grant to refresh all the linens at Uptown Safe Haven, a 19-unit residential facility that provides transitional housing and support to single adults experiencing chronic homelessness. When residents move into permanent housing of their own, these linens will welcome them with open arms into a dignified, upgraded environment that feels like home.

ECS’ Head Start & Early Head Start programs provide early childhood education and development services to break cycles of poverty among low-income, high-potential families. In October, the PNC Foundation invested a $12,500 grant to support a pilot project at ECS' Head Start in San Ysidro, providing flexible music and movement curricula in collaboration with Kindermusik. When music and movement are practiced together, all lobes of the brain are engaged, creating peak neurological connections for young learners.

In November, the Big Lots Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to PLF, which currently provides free bilingual and bicultural behavioral health services to children ages 0-12 and their families across San Diego County's South Region. This grant supports efforts to develop a future generation of leaders by reducing the prevalence of mental illness/serious emotional disturbance in daycare, preschool, and elementary school children.

With gratitude, we offer sincere thanks to each organization.

If your corporation or group would like to provide a grant to any ECS programs, please contact Timothy Whipple, Interim Development Director.

ECS Para Las Familias Receives a $70,000 Grant from San Diego Foundation and the Dr. Seuss Foundation

PLF receives a grant to continue providing therapy services to families and children in the San Diego community. August 2022.

Episcopal Community Services’ (ECS) Para Las Familias program provides critical mental and behavioral health services for the youngest members of San Diego’s community and the need for these therapy services continues to grow. To continue to help ECS provide these services at no cost, ECS was recently awarded a $70,000 grant from San Diego Foundation and the Dr. Seuss Foundation.

“For more than 22 years, our Para Las Familias program has worked to strengthen the mental and behavioral health of children throughout our community,” said Elizabeth Fitzsimons, ECS chief executive officer. “We have seen firsthand the impacts traumatic experiences can have not only on children, but also on their parents and caregivers. Through Para Las Familias, we aim to provide accessible and affordable therapy services. This grant from San Diego Foundation and the Dr. Seuss Foundation allows us to continue building upon the good work we are already doing.”

ECS’ outpatient bicultural and bilingual Para Las Familias program serves children 18 months to 12 years old and their families throughout south San Diego County, and works to strengthen the foundational bonds that will set children on track for healthy relationships, self-confidence, and success in school and beyond. Para Las Familias’ therapists provide screening, assessment, family and group therapy, school observation, and teacher/provider consultation at Para Las Familias’ offices, or in the child’s home or classroom. In addition, Para Las Familias also provides adult mental health services and weekly parenting groups to the caregivers of the children it serves. To learn more about Para Las Familias and how to access its services, visit https://www.ecscalifornia.org/para-las-familias or call (619) 565-2650.

About Episcopal Community Services 

For more than 97 years, ECS has been taking action to end generational cycles of hardship, advancing equity and opportunity across our region. The organization is focused on breaking barriers and empowering individuals to create a community where all can pursue an abundant life. Serving more than 6,000 individuals a year, ECS’ programs increase access to early childhood education and development services and strengthen the mental and behavioral health of individuals and families in our communities. For more information on ECS, visit https://www.ecscalifornia.org/.