DOWNTOWN
Sephora, a leader in the beauty supply retail market, announced Monday that it will be working with the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club as part of Values Inside Out, a partnership program that matches Sephora stores across America with local nonprofits.
Under the program, each store's employees will have the opportunity to choose a local nonprofit they want to help through raising awareness, providing funds and contributing their own "sweat equity" to enable that organization to fulfill their mission over the course of 2013.
Mary Herald, Sephora's executive vice president of human resources and education, said, "At Sephora, our vision for Values Inside Out is to inspire and engage our teams to play a part in making a difference in their communities, and to do so in a way that is completely aligned and integrated with our values."
"We know that beauty is both inside and out and we know our teams will feel proud of what they accomplish for their communities and even more so where they work," she added.
The initiative begins this week, as participating Sephora stores across the country announce their partnership with local nonprofits.
In Santa Monica, Sephora cast members have chosen the Boys & Girls Club as their charity of choice. Cast members will work as partners with the Boys & Girls Club.
"We are pleased to be partnering with Sephora and know our club members will benefit greatly from the positive impact that is created through this partnership," said Aaron Young, CEO and president of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica.
Sephora plans to measure the results of the program annually by the amount of funds raised by each nonprofit as a result of its partnership in the program and the number of volunteer hours contributed by Sephora employees during the year. To learn more about the program, visit www.sephora.com/values-inside-out.
Founded in 1944, the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica currently serves approximately 8,000 youth through memberships and community outreach. They come from all over Los Angeles County, largely from Santa Monica, Culver City, Venice, West Los Angeles and Inglewood.
Members pay a $20 annual fee for access to all club amenities and programs that span across education, leadership, recreation and more.
In the past six months, the club has added three more sites — at Olympic High School, Broadway Community Corporation Housing, and Mar Vista Gardens. The Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica now has eight sites in and around Santa Monica, and plans to open two more sites in 2013. For more information, visit www.smbgc.org.
—Kevin Herrera
SAMOHI
Film highlights ‘first flush'
Santa Monica High School students are featured in a short documentary entitled "The First Flush" that focuses on the amount of trash that flows into the Pacific Ocean following the season's first major rain storm.
Known as the "first flush" the rains bring plastic bags, cigarette butts, soccer balls, hypodermic needles and other debris to the Pico-Cantor Storm Drain in Santa Monica.
Students featured are members of Samohi's Team Marine, a club that focuses on protecting the environment.
"[I]t's like I'm swimming in garbage," said Team Marine member Juliet Jimenez.
Watch the film by visiting http://vimeo.com/66343097
— KH
