Friendly Center Inc

Providing stability, opportunity, and hope to children and families in poverty.

Since its founding in 1924, Friendly Center has existed to serve Orange County’s most vulnerable and marginalized families. Ninety-seven years ago, the population served was migrant farm workers living in the city of Orange; today it is working poor families across Orange County who struggle with the instability and challenges that come with living in poverty. Friendly Center’s work in the community is accomplished by offering 15+ programs and services to low-income families and seniors in Orange County. Each of these programs and services can be categorized under three pillars: Basic Needs, Family Support, and Education & Workforce..

We provide life-changing programs and services to over 2,000 low-income OC households every year through our Family Resource Centers. All of this is made possible through the help of our volunteers and the financial support from our donors -- allowing Friendly Center to make a difference every day in the lives of children, families and seniors in need.

As the demand for Friendly Center’s programs and services continues to rise, our most pressing needs are:
- Additional volunteers to assist in the success of programs.
- Board members with backgrounds in finance, education, human resources and marketing/public relations.
- Funds to build core capacity to help us expand our outreach into additional underserved areas in Orange County.

Orange County

In the early weeks of the pandemic, the word unprecedented was accurately used to describe the previously unimaginable upheaval of our economy, communities, and way of life. And unprecedented it has been for all of us, especially families who were struggling with the challenges of living in poverty before the pandemic.

At Friendly Center, once stay-at-home orders went into effect, we experienced a tremendous increase in incoming calls for support and an urgent need to transform our programs to meet the various difficulties clients and their families were facing. I am proud to share we successfully delivered programs, a few being entirely new to our organization, to help meet this tremendous need.

We have correctly anticipated demand for Friendly Center programs remaining high long after 2020, as many low-income families continue to struggle with the effects of lost income, mental health crises, food insecurity, and other challenges brought on over the past few years. As such, we are so grateful for the ongoing support of the donors, businesses, organizations, foundations, and volunteers who have helped make our response to the changing needs of the community possible. Together we have and will continue to make a difference.

At a time when the number of those in need of resources and support grows, I am proud to serve as Board Chair of Friendly Center – an organization that has served an important role for many years in Orange County as an accessible, reliable place for low-income families to receive vital services.