Rising Above Hardships to Help Children

When Bernadine Schulze talks about Alaska, listeners can feel the chill air enveloping her ruddy cheeks and see the king crabs boiling in a large pot in her brother’s kitchen in Sitka, a small city near Juneau where the pair attended high school.

When Schulze, 53, speaks of the troubled family life that sent her to a children’s home for five years in a town far from her parents, one can picture the Native American child struggling to fit into a culture that didn’t acknowledge her Tlingit, or tribal, heritage.

Schulze’s life--the painful early years, an Ivy League education, world travel and life-and-death struggles--prepared the children’s advocate for her current work with Bridge Focus Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides parenting classes and support groups to at-risk families around the Valley.

“I had a difficult childhood that has made me sensitive to children’s issues,” the soft-spoken volunteer said. “I didn’t know I had it in me to do this work, but I got a nice surprise. I’ve discovered I’m nurturing and loving and that I did have it in me.”

The children and staff with whom Schulze works agree.

“The kids love her,” said Barbara Baldwin, director and facilitator of Bridge Focus’ single-parent group. “Despite the hardships in her life, she’s a giver. Her love just singes the heart.”

So does her life story.

Born in 1944 in the small Alaskan town of Hoonah, Schulze and her three older brothers were placed in a group home, where the 2-year-old girl found refuge from parents who were unable to care for her.

Returning to her parents’ home in 1951, the 7-year-old discovered a love of learning, especially the lore and customs of her Native American culture.

Following her graduation from high school in 1962, Schulze graduated from Haskell College in Lawrence, Kan., and attended Columbia University for three years. In 1971 she met Max Schulze, whom she married two years later.

The couple settled in Los Angeles in 1973, where, she said, “It was 90 degrees and sunny every day.” Schulze found work as a paralegal in a Century City law firm, but says she fed her soul with volunteer work at the Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles Opera League.

Two years ago, satisfied that she had met her goal of traveling the world--she has visited Europe, Mexico, Canada and Asia, including China--the now long-divorced Schulze determined to focus her attention on children in need.

She chose Bridge Focus’ COSTARS program, in which children practice communication skills and learn how to avoid drugs and other destructive behavior, while their parents attend classes nearby.

The Van Nuys organization also offers individual and family counseling, medical treatment to homeless teens, and parenting classes to single parents and English- and Spanish-speaking families.

Despite a recurrence of breast cancer that sends Schulze to frequent chemotherapy sessions, she makes a point of showing up as usual at the weekly COSTARS meetings, where, she says, the kids energize her.

“I need them and they need me,” she said. “I know from my own experience that the smallest amount of attention really has an effect on them. If I can give praise or a hug to a kid, I know what a difference it makes.”