The Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles Harbor (BGCLAH) provides a vital service to the community with a mission to enable all young people, especially those in need, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. BGCLAH achieves this through a commitment to quality programs and services in an environment that is safe, nurturing, and inspiring.
The Los Angeles Harbor Club first opened in 1937 and is one of the oldest Boys & Girls Clubs in California, originally established as the Boys Club of San Pedro. The name was changed to the Boys & Girls Club of San Pedro in 1994 to reflect the hundreds of girls who joined as members. In 2002, the Port of L.A. Boys & Girls Club was opened, and in 2004, it was merged with the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club to create the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor.
In response to the increasing demand and the needs of the youth served, the club greatly enhanced the academic, arts and athletics enrichment programming for all members, grades K-12. Today, this club is the largest private nonprofit, daily service provider to at-risk youth in the Los Angeles Harbor area, operating programs at three Clubhouses year-round and providing after-school programming on ten public school campuses.
Juanita’s Foods, located in Wilmington, was established in 1946, originally as a canning company. In 1950 Juanita’s introduced the first canned Menudo made from a De La Torre family recipe which has now been passed down through three generations. The recipe for Menudo is one that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans celebrate for its homemade taste and convenience.
Today, Juanita’s Foods is a 75-year-old, family-owned, minority certified, CPG company that remains dedicated to producing authentic, high-quality Mexican food through its two flagship brands: Juanita’s and Pico Pica. Through the years, the company has become the leader of authentic Menudo, Hominy, Pozole and is the fastest growing Nacho Cheese Sauce in the US. Across three generations of its history, Juanita’s Foods has created a strong culture and history that resonates throughout the business today.
Juanita’s is a close neighbor and supporter of the tremendous service provided by the BGCLAH. Juanita’s knows the importance of being a vital part of the community and contributing to local non-profit organizations. Beyond his incredible success as a businessman, George De La Torres Jr. never forgot where he came from and always made it a point to support his local community by contributing to several non-profit organizations and charitable causes, especially those supporting youth and educational programs like the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles Harbor.
During the pandemic, Juanita’s Foods donated over 6,000 cans of product to the Boys & Girls Club of LA Harbor to assist in their food outreach program, Weekend Wellness, to feed local families throughout this difficult time. BGCLAH alone provides 1,200 individual families food every Friday at their distributions thanks to the generous donations of many companies like Juanita’s Foods.
“We’re all members of the same community and food security is real, and especially over weekends we want to make sure that kids and families have enough meals to get through,” said Jen Prindle, Board of Directors at BGCLAH. “Thanks to Juanita’s Foods, we’ve been able to provide hundreds of hot meals every week.”
Juanita’s continues to support BGCLAH and during last year’s Thanksgiving food drive collected and donated baskets of canned goods. In addition, Juanita’s employees, inspired by the company culture of contribution as well as being members of this community, gathered and donated toys and other gifts for the Boys & Girls Club of LA Harbor Holiday Toy drive this past December.
Juanita’s Foods and the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles Harbor are long time partners and will continue to collaborate to assist the community. Juanita’s Foods hopes to inspire other corporations and their employees to partner with a community non-profit to assist them with the critical services they provide. As the Boys & Girls Club maintains, “We would not be able to do what we do without the support from our corporate partners.”
Learn more about Boys & Girls Club of LA Harbor at bgclaharbir.org.
Learn more about Juanita’s Foods at juanitas.com.
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