Everyone knows that December is all about the holidays, and the most important part of the holidays is family. That's why our December issue has been dubbed the "Holiday & Family" Issue.

This month we feature "Dancing With Our Stars", a piece about this year's benefit show to advance and celebrate the Memorial Heart and Vascular Institute at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

This month's issue also features our "Everthing Holiday Guide", a one stop list of ideas for everything this holiday season including decorating tips, holiday treats, holiday movies and much more!

Finally we focus on "Giving the Gift of Time", a piece written by Dawn Mori and photographed by Taka and Nicole Tsubaki, about the great men in women at Long Beach Rescue Mission, who go above and beyond to make everyone's holidays just a little bit brighter.

We hope you all enjoy this issue and wish you and yours a very happy holidays!

Long Beach Rescue Mission volunteers make a difference to the city’s homeless.

Ronda Dunham is a volunteer. Each Wednesday evening, Dunham leaves her day job as a purchasing manager at Boeing and arrives in the kitchen of the Samaritan House, one of the city’s largest shelters for homeless men, run by the Long Beach Rescue Mission. As the night’s “Lead Volunteer,” Dunham will organize a team of ten fellow volunteers who will plate and serve up to 200 dinners to those who cannot afford to eat.

Dunham is one of more than 62 million Americans who regularly volunteer their time and make a difference for needy people. It is estimated that 1 out of 4 Americans take part in formal volunteer programs, giving more than 8 billion hours of their time every year, the equivalent of $162 billion in labor.

Volunteers give their time for a variety of reasons. Some volunteer to support a cause close to their heart while others help those who are suffering from the same illnesses as their own family or friends. For many, the reason they volunteer is as simple as needing to give back. Volunteering is just part of who they are and what defines them as human beings.

Nowhere do volunteers make more of an impact than at the Long Beach Rescue Mission. Since its doors opened in 1972, the Mission has provided food, clothing, shelter and spiritual guidance to thousands of homeless men, women and children as well as the less fortunate in the city. Every year, the Mission serves more than 187,000 hearty meals in both the Samaritan House and the Lydia House, its shelter for women and children.

“We could not do what we do and provide this level of service without our volunteers,” said Reverend Jim Lewis, the Mission’s CEO. Their 490 volunteers will give more than 20,000 hours of their time this year, the equivalent to 10 full-time staff members.

“We take volunteering more seriously, formalizing the process and raising the level of importance of this form of service,” he said. “We feel that our guests deserve people who care deeply about them and their predicament.”

The Mission not only provides training sessions for volunteers, they also recently added more volunteer opportunities by dividing holiday events into two sessions, creating shorter shifts with realistic time commitments.

For those who want to volunteer, finding the right fit with an organization takes time. Like many others, Dunham wanted to volunteer for years but didn’t know how to go about it, so she did not do anything at first. Then three and a half years ago, she and her husband volunteered on a Serve Day with her local church, and they found themselves at the Mission, stuffing socks into toiletry bags for the Mission’s guests. She would return to the Mission the following week as a kitchen volunteer and has never left. “I just kind of got hooked,” she said.

Now volunteering is a family affair. Dunham serves on the Mission’s Volunteer Leadership Team and her son, Chris, who volunteered with her on college breaks, is on the Mission staff as a case worker.

Even the food the Mission serves comes to its kitchen through the work of local volunteers. Food Service Manager, Dale Neal, credits food drives at churches, schools and local malls with stocking the kitchen’s pantry as well as the Post Office food drive, which this May collected 48,000 pounds of food. A former program participant himself, Neal joined the Mission staff four and half years ago and has seen the impact of its volunteers.

“When I first got here we didn’t have the volunteer program or base that we have now, and it’s because of them that we are able to do things the way that we do it and our guests notice that. They feel it. And our guests get a thrill out of the fact that somebody is serving them and bringing [their plates] to them and showing them that they do care. That means a lot,” he said.

The Mission also allows volunteers to become involved in their programs on a more intimate level through mentoring and working with program participants on specific projects. Kevin Clothier, also a Boeing manager, gives his time and talent as a writer and teacher. Two years ago, he approached the Mission directors with a unique proposal and asked to volunteer to lead a weekly creative writing course for Samaritan House guests.

“I didn’t want to just run a typical writing workshop. I wanted to do something for people who didn’t have the opportunity to put pen to paper and really express themselves creatively,” said Clothier who first volunteered at the Mission in the late 1970s when it operated as an Ocean Boulevard storefront.

The writing program has become so successful that it is now required as part of the Mission’s New Life Program, a year long, faith based program that helps those with substance abuse problems. The ongoing 10-week course has from 5 to 15 students and includes journaling, elements of writing structure, style and genre, and culminates in a reading of each participant’s work.

Although Clothier did not know what to expect when he started the program, he knew these men had stories to tell that are unknown to most Long Beach residents. What surprised him was the level of work and commitment that he saw.

“Some men come in here and they are barely literate so I have to work with them pretty extensively and they gain their confidence. I help them shape and work their pieces into something they’re really proud of. Other guys come in here with a lot of talent and a lot of ability. They just need to have someone legitimize what they are doing.”

Clothier works with individual guests after each class and edits manuscripts during the week. It is a mentoring process that makes volunteering worthwhile.

“There is something about being able to serve at this level, especially if you have children, to let them see that there is a whole different side of life that we miss out on if we shelter ourselves and stay away from opportunities like this,” he said.

Seeing a different side of life led to a food and clothing drive that benefits the Mission’s youngest guests. Last year, 7-year old Jonas Corona became deeply troubled when he accompanied his mother, Renee, a long-time volunteer with the homeless population in downtown Los Angeles. With the help of his family, he founded Love in the Mirror, a Long Beach not-for-profit organization which has arranged several drives for the Lydia House, the Mission’s shelter for women and children.

Jonas leads drives that collect clothes, toiletries, school supplies and toys and his work has impacted thousands of children in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Working with his family, he sorts through donated items then divides them based on the needs of individual locations. Jonas hand delivers items to shelters or he and his mother will take packages directly to those in need on the streets.

“I want to help kids because they don’t have food, clothes, toys and some don’t go to school,” wrote Jonas on his website. “It makes me feel happy that I am helping and that is why I wanted to start Love in the Mirror.”

While many of us will choose to volunteer with organizations which impact worlds outside our everyday lives, there are those who volunteer with a true understanding of the communities they serve.

Cecil Johnson is a volunteer Case Management Intern at the Mission who is studying and earning hours towards becoming a Certified Addiction Specialist at Long Beach City College. Johnson speaks openly about his own past drug use and now uses his experience and calm demeanor to guide new guests through the Mission’s check-in process. He also manages evening duties at the Samaritan House several times a week. Johnson sees his fellow volunteers as an inspiration.

“It helps me within myself because it reminds me where I came from and where I’m at. I appreciate a lot of things about life now,” he said.

Johnson promotes volunteering as a way for people to experience the joy of doing something for those who do not have anyone to help them. “They can see what we need to do as a whole for people, because we’re all human, regardless of what status we are,” he said.

It returns to the reason why many people volunteer in the first place – that giving back is just part of what defines them. It is why millions of Americans continue to donate their time every year, although they do receive something priceless in return.

“Volunteering makes you step outside of yourself and realize that there’s something a lot bigger in life than just you,” shared Dunham. “And when you start, when you allow yourself to be open to other people and other cultures and other ideals and other thoughts, it makes you so much more. Volunteering, especially in a place like this, if you come in with an open heart, you’re going to get so much more out of it. You become a better person.”