Four-year-old Santa Monica resident, Matthew Prager and  his twin brothers, 8-year-old Alex and Jacob, insert money into the  Dolphin for Change at the Santa Monica Pier on Friday, March18, 2011.

Matthew learned about homelessness for the first time in his pre-school class. He decided there and then that he wanted to do something to help. After brainstorming with his parents, he came up with the idea of selling hot chocolate to raise money. When his twin brothers Alex and Jacob heard about Matthew’s idea, they wanted to get in on the action. They added the idea of selling brownies and rice crispy treats.

Last weekend, they prepared homemade  rice krispies, brownies and hot chocolate and, together with their parents, sold their items outside the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market and Palisades Farmer’s Market. Over the course of the weekend, they sold all of their goods and raised $90.


Started in 1993, the Dolphin Change Program, a project of the Bayside District Corporation, has been a way for the Santa Monica community and visitors to give responsibly to established social service organizations that help the homeless. With the help of the Marion Dorn Estate, last year’s Dolphin grants totaled $50,000 dollars

D.A.R.E. - Images by Fabian Lewkowicz

Santa Monica Police  Officers Austin Brown and Jennifer Rodriguez facilitate D.A.R.E.  (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to fifth grade students at Grant Elementary School on Tuesday, February 8, 2011.

D.A.R.E.   is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence.

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in 75 percent of our nation's school districts and in more than 43 countries around the world.

The D.A.R.E. program enables students to interact with police officers or sheriffs in a controlled, safe, classroom environment. This helps students and officers meet and understand each other in a friendly manner, instead of having to meet when a student commits a crime, or when officers must intervene in domestic disputes and severe family problems. 

Santa Monica Fire Chief Scott Ferguson bowls during the Fifteenth Annual "SuperBowl-A-Thon" at AMF Bay Shore Lanes on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011. The SuperBowl-A-Thon brings together the private and public sector in an effort to eradicate homelessness in Santa Monica and transform the community. It benefits the Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition’s efforts to strengthen services to homeless and at-risk, men, women and families through education, advocacy and service coordination.





Santa Monica police Chief Timothy J. Jackman and Santa Monica Fire Chief Scott Ferguson introduce their newest police officers and firefighters during Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's 16th Annual New Heroes Celebration at Le Merigot on Thursday, October 19, 2010. The event is held to welcome new educators, police officers, and firefighters to the Santa Monica community.



Jim Casalor serves pancakes to Santa Monica Police Officer Braschi during Santa Monica Lions Club's 55th Annual Pancake Breakfast at the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica on Saturday, September 18, 2010.