Last week, long time non-profit Long Beach Day Nursery (LBDN) — founded in 1912 by Long Beach women who felt that working mothers needed quality child care — held their 100th Anniversary Annual Meeting that also brought the introduction of new officers at the LBDN East Branch.
Out-going 1st Vice Chair/Governance Joan Alderson introduced new board members Joen Garnica (an alumnus of LBDN), Michele Dobson, Lynn Shrum, and Gina Ballard. Board Chair Melanie Werts recognized new Honorary Board members, that is, those board members that have termed out after serving a total of three, three-year terms, including Elaine Thompson, Brian Russell, Linda Silver, and herself. Honorary Board member Daphne Ching-Jackson installed new board officers for 2012-2013. They include: Chair Deloris Mayuga (Real Estate Investor & Property Manager); Chair-elect Jon Gotz (President, Gotz Insurance Agency); 1st Vice Chair Governance Julie Taboada (Retired Educator); 2nd Vice Chair Resource Development Joan Alderson (Retired Controller of the Girl Scouts of Orange County); Recording Secretary Michael Soutar (President/Partner, MSP Architects); and Treasurer Steven T. Romeyn (Controller & IT Administrator, Commerce Casino).
During her final report to the audience Werts stated, “when I began my year as board chair my theme was Celebrating our past and Securing our future – to best position LBDN for the next century. And we have been busy working on doing just that.”
To date, through the 100th Anniversary Steering Committee’s Investment in the Future strategy, more than $100,000 has been raised to help assist LBDN in securing the future and positioning the nursery for the next century.
Executive Director Patrice Wong presented brief highlights of the past year and emphasized that despite the deep cuts in state funding for early childhood education, LBDN continues to provide high quality services for the families and children they serve.