Ventura County Star

Many Mansions, honored as Nonprofit of the Year

Many Mansions, honored as Nonprofit of the Year

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This editorial originally appeared in Ventura County Star, on July 4, 2017,
“Many Mansions, Conejo Schools Foundation honored as Nonprofit of the Year”

Two local nonprofits received California’s Nonprofit of the Year award during a ceremony in Sacramento last month.

Affordable housing developer Many Mansions and Conejo Schools Foundation, an education and social service organization, were among about 100 California nonprofits to be honored by state politicians. Leaders from both organizations were flown to Sacramento for a celebratory lunch and tour of the Senate floor. Additionally, all honored nonprofits received plaques to commemorate their ongoing service.

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Ventura County Star (December 15, 2015)

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VCstarDec15

Rick Schroeder: Many Mansions is akin to Bailey Building and Loan

his editorial originally appeared in the Ventura County Star.

Each Christmas season, millions of Americans watch a movie about affordable housing. They think it’s a movie about a would-be angel who helps a man see what life would be like if he had never been born. The man — George Bailey — learns that it really has been a wonderful life and Clarence gets his angel wings.

It’s a feel-good movie, but at its core, this is a movie about affordable housing. George Bailey and his father run the Bailey Building and Loan, which provides loans so middle class people can afford to live in a safe decent home. In the scenes in which George “was never born,” he finds that Bailey Park has been replaced by a place called Pottersville, a series of ramshackle houses not fit for humans. Indeed, because there is no affordable housing, the fabric of the entire community is different. There is crime, alcohol abuse and unemployment.

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Ventura County Star (November 8, 2015)

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Bowls of Hope bowlsBowls bring hope, funds for
Thousand Oaks charity

This article originally appeared in the
Ventura County Star.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Over 500 hand-painted bowls were displayed at Many Mansions’ Bowls of Hope fundraiser Sunday at California Lutheran University, where for $35, guests could choose a bowl to take home and eat as much soup, salad, bread and dessert donated by area restaurants.

Heather McLeod, community and public relations coordinator of nonprofit Many Mansions, explained the bowls were painted at bowl parties thrown throughout the year.

Karen Kolosieke, of Westlake Village, Anne Saffell, of Thousand Oaks, and Sharon McDonald, of Agoura Hills, had been to one of those painting parties and were hoping to find the bowls they had painted to take home with them, but couldn’t.

“It felt good that it was gone,” said Kolosieke, who ended up with a bowl that said “imagine,” hope” and “dream.”

The threesome is very involved with the Thousand Oaks-based Many Mansions.

“It is a wonderful charity,” Kolosieke said.

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