Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Pasadena's finest community organizations, The Sycamores. On September 29, 2002, The Sycamores will celebrate its 100th anniversary as one of the nation's premier mental health agencies serving California's children and families.
In 1902, Fannie Rowland, wife of John Rowland, the first President of the Tournament of Roses, called a meeting of thirty prominent Pasadena community leaders. She wanted to discuss the "advisability of establishing a home for the care of needy children.'' From that meeting, the Pasadena Children's Training Society was founded. Initially, the Society's two-story yellow building served as a home for "door-step'' babies--infants left on the facility's front steps.
It was from the front steps that this agency grew. By the mid-1960s the Society had outgrown its home and moved to the neighboring community of Altadena. With the new home came a new name--The Sycamores--a moniker selected in honor of the many trees surrounding the new campus. As the physical location and name of the Society changed, so did its focus. What began as a small orphanage, bloomed into a residential treatment center by the 1960s.
Since then, The Sycamores has increased its capacity to help. Its board of directors purchased additional properties, developed a state-certified school, offering family and adoptive services, a neighborhood family resource center and expanded mental health and transitional living programs.
Over the years, The Sycamores, as one of the area's most acclaimed and capable facilities, has cared for some of the most troubled and needy children in California. The extraordinary staff uses innovative and effective methods to help children and families learn to live productive, but more importantly, happy lives. It is their dedication that makes The Sycamores a vibrant and valuable asset to the community.
I ask all Members to join me in congratulating The Sycamores for 100 years of service and thank them for all that they do for the children of our community.