L.A. Works Thanks it's Project Leaders

L.A. Works Makes it Easy to Volunteer in Los Angeles

We Salute our Project Leaders
January, 2005

Project Leader of the Month

Andrew Anura Abeyesinghe

Andrew has been volunteering with L.A. Works for about a year. In many ways, he represents an "ideal" Project Leader. He recognized that a project he was enjoying as a volunteer -- "Activities with Kids at Grammercy Place" was not being scheduled every month because we couldn't always find a leader. And so he went to Project Leader training, became a PL, and "adopted" the project. This means, he is the regular leader for the project on a regular schedule. In this case, he has elected to lead this project twice each month. In addition, he has started co-leading the Baby Care project at Gramercy Court, helping to relieve regular PL Teresa Castelli who leads it most weeks (This is one of our weekly projects).

We asked Andrew to tell us a bit more about himself:

"I moved to L.A in 2001 to attend grad school at Caltech. I am working on a PhD in Theoretcial Physics designing a futuristic quantum technology, and when I graduate I hope to shift gears and enter the business world via management consultinting with a company like McKinsey.

My ultimate goal is to be a sucessful entrepreneur, make lots of money, and spend a lot of time and effort redistributing it in the most effective way possible to impact the most number of people. In my spare time I search for a beautiful fun loving woman with whom to share my life. I do some stand-up comedy at the Comedy Store and some improvisational comedy with ComedySportzLA. You are all invited to my next show!

I love kids, and working with them is very rewarding, plus it is so much fun to work with the intelligent, compassionate and beautiful women that volnteer at my projects. My tip for my fellow project leaders is the advice my friend Cindy, a former project leader of the month, gave me when I first started out. That is -- be flexible. You can never be sure how many of the volunteers that are signed up will make it to the project, and how many of the kids will be there. So have a plan B, and a plan C and D.

Also for any volunteers reading this: if you would like to step up your involvement with L.A works, I highly encourage you to become a Project Leader. The process only takes a few hours but can make a big difference, since every month there are several projects which need a Project Leader to make them happen. In addition you will get the opportunity to come up with activities for your project, which is a lot of fun."

Adopting a project, like Andrew has done, is one of the greatest services an L.A. Works volunteer can give to their community. It ensures that the project will never be cancelled, allows us to increase the number of projects we can offer each month, and keeps things on a regular, recurring schedule. If you'd like to become a PL and adopt a project, please contact the L.A. Works office or sign up for an upcoming Project Leader training.

Andrew -- thanks for your continued committment to Gramery Place and Gramercy Court and to L.A. Works!

This Month's Project Leaders

Thanks to all of our Project Leaders who are leading projects during the month of January.

You are the real leaders in our community! The Staff & Board of Directors of L.A. Works thanks you for being the real superstars of our community!

Amanda Liu
Andrew Abeyesinghe
Bobbi Marin
Cindy Finocchi
Cynde Knerr
David Trilling
Dustin Manhart
Ed Simon
Elvin Albino
Glenn McClanan
Helga Hung
Henry Meyer
Jacquie Moreno
Jay Ross
Lisa Barrow
Lori Kneser
Luis De Avila
Margaret Comstock
Mark Kimura
Mary Lawler
Meghan Dougherty
Mia Farrell
Sandy Boscarino
Sarah Boyd
Suzanne Studer Iselt
Teresa Castelli

Want to join the ranks of L.A.'s most involved citizens? Become an L.A. Works Project Leader.

It's easy, it's fun, and it doesn't require a huge amount of your time.

Go to the Courses section of the website and sign up for Project Leader Training or call Natalie at (323) 224-6510 to find out the date of the next session.

Past Project Leaders Of the Month

December, 2004 - Jacquie Moreno

November, 2004 - Timothy Dickey and Howard Weiner

October, 2004 - Russell Ali

September, 2004 - Suzanne Wiener

August, 2004 - Veronica Cruz

July, 2004 - Margaret Conway

June, 2004 - Ellen Dugas

May, 2004 - Luis de Avila

April, 2004 - Mandana Dayani

Mar, 2004 - Cindy Finocchi

Feb, 2004 - Viet Hoang

Jan, 2004 - Teresa Castelli

Dec. 2003 - Mary Lawler