from the Daily News

Obama puts out the call, but will L.A. residents answer it?

by Laura Nelson

For years, Van Nuys resident Mary Doherty hated Los Angeles Animal Services shelters.

Her intense love for any animal - from her dogs at home, Hershey and Macy, to abandoned rabbits in shelter cages - made her despise the shelters' euthanasia policies.

But Doherty said her perspective finally changed when she saw "Ghost," the 1990 film in which Patrick Swayze remains on Earth to be with his lover after being killed in a botched mugging attempt.

"It sounds weird, but the movie taught me about life after death," Doherty said, removing towels from an animal shelter dryer and folding them into neat stacks.

"I understood finally that the kittens and puppies and other animals put down at these shelters have spirits that go on to something else after their lives here are done."

Just weeks after Doherty saw "Ghost," she started her Animal Services volunteer training. And for the past year and a half, Doherty has worked at the shelter seven days a week.

"It gives me something to do, and so many of these animals need love," Doherty said, glancing toward Yoda, Shadow and Possum, three tiny foster kittens dozing in a cage near the washing machines. "It's love I can give. It makes my life more complete."

In the wake of a new White House volunteering initiative, but in a city with one of the lowest volunteer rates nationwide, Los Angeles-based charities hope that others will soon discover what Doherty already knows. Charities hope President Obama's "United We Serve" program - a three-month nationwide campaign encouraging volunteerism in education, health, energy and environment signed into effect June 22 - could inspire Angelenos to give a bit more of themselves.

Of the nation's 50 biggest cities, Los Angeles ranks 44th in terms of the population that has ever volunteered: just 21.6 percent, or one out of five Angelenos.

"Geography can always be a barrier, and it's harder to move around in L.A. than it is a lot of places," said Tori Osborn, chief civic engagement officer for United Way of Greater Los Angeles. "But when an elected leader makes a call to serve, people almost always follow."

Organizations across the San Fernando Valley hope Obama's announcement and the additional funding will help bolster volunteer numbers. They say layoffs have prompted more Angelenos to turn to volunteer work, but that it's never enough.

"I hope what Obama said will inspire people who maybe don't know what to do with themselves," said Jo Aguirre, volunteer liaison for the West Valley branch of Animal Services in Chatsworth. "We need their help always, and a lot of people have time on their hands now that they don't have a job."

Ed Boks, the Animal Services general manager who retired last week, said volunteer numbers at shelters have increased with the unemployment rate but that there's always been a collective love for animals.

"L.A. is a very passionate community when it comes to animals, and I hope that can be reflected in the number of volunteers we hope to have," Boks said. "We clearly need the help."

United Way's Osborn said funding for "United We Serve," which ends Sept. 11, will come from the Corporation for National Service (CNS), the federal agency that launched

AmeriCorps and Senior Corps in the 1990s.

Money for California will flow through CaliforniaVolunteers, the state office that manages programs and initiatives to increase the number of Californians engaged in service and volunteering.

CaliforniaVolunteers has already granted nearly $32 million to AmeriCorps programs for the 2009-2010 year.

The money and encouragement could be a tremendous help, said Marianne Haver Hill, the president and CEO of volunteer-driven Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND).

"We hope that despite numbers, this momentum from the White House will trickle into what we do," Hill said.

Hill cited distances and traffic in Los Angeles, as well as a high immigrant population, as reasons for L.A.'s unenthusiastic volunteer record.

"As people immigrate to Los Angeles, many are just struggling to survive in a new environment and a tough economy," Hill said. "But as these people become second- and third-generation citizens, they begin to develop more of an enthusiasm for helping each other out."

Hill said as many as 2,900 people have volunteered for MEND in a year, and they're always looking for more. With layoffs rampant, she said, volunteering can provide valuable r sum additions.

"We have office workers, health professionals, pharmacists, cooks, graphic designers," Hill said. "And 70 of those are job-trainee volunteers who will do something else when they move on."

Grace Phang, a 17-year-old senior at Reseda High School, said she's grown close to the West Valley shelter's animals since she started there last July. Phang said her favorite animals are currently six-week-old foster kittens - Darwin, Einstein and Galileo - each barely larger than a Beanie Baby.

Foster kittens live with volunteer families that name and keep them until they're big enough to live at the shelter.

"I looked online for volunteer opportunities, and this looked really easy and fun," Phang said, putting on latex gloves and scooping clean litter into a tray. "I have my dog Happy at home, but I'm around so many more animals here."

It didn't take a presidential initiative to get her to volunteer - instead, it was her magnet program's 160-hour community service graduation requirement. But she hopes United We Serve will get more kids her age to experience the "rewarding experience" of volunteering.

"A lot of people don't know where to go to volunteer or what to do," Phang said, smiling at two kittens wrestling in their cage. "But once kids start volunteering, I think they'll find out that they like it."

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