Wounded Warrior Homes has been a member of the North County Philanthropy Council for four years, thanks to the generosity of their business sponsor, Jeff Crane, Certified Financial Planner, and his team at Thrivent Financial. Mia regularly attends NCPC Workshops and Luncheons. As a newcomer to the world of nonprofit management, she has benefited from the information that is shared and the business connections she made.
“One very memorable connection occurred at a networking session just prior to the opening of our third home,” said Mia. “I mentioned that Wounded Warrior Homes had scheduled a cleaning day and was looking for volunteers. To my surprise, John McCoy, President of Oceanside Theatre Company offered to send the theatre’s cleaning service to clean the home and to cover this expense personally.” With John’s support, Wounded Warrior Homes was able to advance their timeline and move veterans into their new homes one week sooner than planned.
Mahogany House Update 5/19/2018 | Oceanside, Ca from Wounded Warrior Homes on Vimeo.
“At NCPC, it’s all about supporting our community,” said Mia. “There’s a spirit of cooperation and a commitment to working together to make life better to the people we serve. NCPC is a great place to meet people who work for causes that touch your heart.”
Mia became the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Wounded Warrior Homes in 2009, where she was driven by her heart. Her background was in special education, not nonprofit management. But she and her husband Steve noticed that post-9/11 veterans suffering from Posttraumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury were “falling through the cracks” so they felt compelled to take action.
Wounded Warrior Homes was established by Mia and Steve to provide local military heroes with support and supplemental services to help them transition from the front lines to the home front. This nonprofit organization currently houses 13 veterans in its three homes located in Oceanside, Vista and Escondido. In addition to housing, the residents receive help with decisions about advancing their education, finding jobs and managing their finances.
ECCD was established in 1974 by former Escondido Mayor Lorraine Boyce and Palomar College Child Development program director, Ruth Clothier. ECCDC is a 501 (3)(c) non-profit Preschool serving children ages four months to kindergarten from low income families. Parents, who enroll their children, must be working, looking for work, or enrolled in school. ECCDC provides children with a comprehensive, coordinated and cost-effective child development program which includes a full range of education, supervision, health, and social services designed to assist children and their families to maximize their full potential. Children may be enrolled in a full-day and/or part-day programs. Early interventions include free annual on-site child developmental screenings and assessments, along with free therapeutic services for vision, hearing, dental health, physical growth & nutrition, speech, first and second language development and early childhood social-emotional competency. Each child is offered two main meals and two snacks per day through the California Child and Adult Food Program (CACFP). ECCDC has two locations operating in Escondido with over 80 employees and 400 children and families served each year. Partial funding is provided through State and Federal Early Childhood Education programs and through public and private donations. For more information please visit: 
Grant Consulting Services helps organizations across the globe to affect positive change through the written word. Grant Consulting Services has assisted organizations in obtaining millions and millions of dollars in grant funding through expert grant research and professionally written grant proposals. So far in 2018, they have helped organizations obtain just over $1 million in grant funds. The organization’s knowledge of all things related to grants has helped bring much needed resources to people living with HIV/AIDS, assisted homeless women in learning job skills, and brought needed medical supplies to 3rd world countries.
Diana Aaron’s affiliation with North County Philanthropy Council began more than a decade ago when she was Executive Director of 
Did you know that every month over 2,000 men and women are released from active military service in San Diego County? And, their county has one of the highest veteran unemployment rates in the nation?
Kitchens for Good (KFG) is a social enterprise 501(c)(3) that uses kitchens as a tool to nourish bodies, empower the marginalized, and create economically vibrant communities. The mission of KFG is to break the cycles of food waste, poverty and hunger through innovative programs in workforce training, healthy food production and social enterprise. In its kitchens, KFG bridges the gap between wasted food and hunger by rescuing surplus and cosmetically imperfect food from wholesalers and farmers and engaging students in a culinary apprenticeship program to transform these ingredients into nutritious meals for hungry families. Since 2015, KFG has rescued over 86,000 pounds of surplus food, distributed over 121,000 meals, and has trained 162 individuals, previously seen as “unemployable,” for careers in the culinary industry. This approach not only feeds the food lines but shortens the line itself by offering pathways out of poverty for individuals transitioning out of incarceration, homelessness and foster care. KFG ensures its sustainability through a catering and food service enterprise that offers on-the-job training opportunities for its culinary students while generating revenue to support the organization’s programs.
Mitchell Medrano’s relationship with North County Philanthropy Council began three years ago, shortly after he graduated from University of Redlands.
Debra Sallaz, Development Officer, Solutions for Change