Foundation

Designer Karl Kani ("Clothes Make the Man," 12/4/94) has used his success to help us at the Foundation for the Junior Blind as a caring and credible mentor to sighted inner-city teens in our First Steps Youth Enrichment Program. The Foundation created First Steps in 1992 as a commitment to Los Angeles, going beyond our work with the blind, visually impaired and multidisabled-blind population. Kani hosted our 1994 class in his offices and told them his story and observations firsthand, which expanded the teens' world and gave greater relevance to our ongoing First Steps program of providing jobs, teaching life skills and developing the self-esteem needed to define and pursue life goals.

Designer Karl Kani ("Clothes Make the Man," Dec. 4), has used his success to help us at the Foundation for the Junior Blind as a caring and credible mentor to sighted inner-city teens in our First Steps Youth Enrichment Program. The foundation created First Steps in 1992 as a commitment to Los Angeles, going beyond our work with the blind, visually impaired and multi-disabled blind population. Kani hosted our 1994 class in his offices and told them his story and observations firsthand, which expanded the teens' worlds and gave greater relevance to our ongoing First Steps program of providing jobs, teaching life skills and developing the self-esteem needed to define and pursue life goals.

UCLA Coach Jim Mora's foundation, “Count On Me,” will hold a happy hour meet and greet Thursday night in Manhattan Beach. The event at the 900 Manhattan Club runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  Mora and Shannon Mora, his wife, will introduce the foundation, which supports children in need. [ Update, 3:30 p.m. : The meet-and-greet happy hour is full.] The foundation will also hold a golf tournament on May 20 at the Riviera Country Club. ALSO: Baseball writers pitch a Hall of Fame shutout Is Barry Bonds a Hall of Famer?

Re "PTA in Uproar Over Meeting Schedule," Nov. 8. [To] the dilemma of day or night PTA, the answer is a foundation. PTA is not to raise money but to give time in the classroom, at carnivals and school events. While PTA may make some money, the emphasis is parent educational volunteerism. Working parents have less time and more money to give so let them form a foundation with night meetings and a project or two to benefit the school financially. Some parents will belong to both.

The powerful Shubert Organization, Broadway's largest landlord, has turned to two of its longtime employees to run the company as well as its foundation, following the death of its chairman, Gerald Schoenfeld, last week. Philip J. Smith has been named chairman of the organization, which owns 17 New York theaters. He will also head its multimillion-dollar foundation, which supports nonprofit theater and dance companies across the country. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Shubert board of directors, which also named Robert E. Wankel as president and elected him to the board of directors.

A Superior Court judge on Friday froze the assets of a foundation created by Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush after hearing it described as a "sham" operation whose monies were improperly diverted by one of the commissioner's key deputies. Sacramento Superior Court Judge John R. Lewis ruled that funds deposited with the foundation for Northridge earthquake victims will be frozen until he can conduct a hearing May 22. On that date, the court will consider state Atty. Gen.

The Ehrlichs' book on overpopulation as the source of all ills is a reminder that if we don't voluntarily "Stop at Two," the government will eventually limit us to one. SUSU LEVY, President Foundation for Optimal Planetary Survival Encino