Heart to give back

Deepa Bharath

Dana Timmermans grew up taking advantage of the charities in the

Newport-Mesa area.

He got his first job through Youth Employment Services in Costa

Mesa, which offers vocational training and job placement for young

people. He and his brother and sister visited the thrift stores, but

often couldn’t afford to buy there.

But most of all, Timmermans is thankful for the Assistance League

of Newport Mesa Dental Center, which has been servicing children from

families without insurance -- like Timmermans’ at the time -- for the

last 52 years.

“I would be missing a few teeth if I didn’t have that access to

dental care,” said Timmermans, flashing a bright smile.

Now, he is the director of Friends in Service to Humanity, a Costa

Mesa nonprofit that helps families in need. In a Westside office a

block away from where he grew up, Timmermans helps those who faced

the struggles he once faced.

It’s ironic but heart-warming that he was able to return to this

community, Timmermans said.

“Our family went through some tough times,” he said. “We were part

of the working poor here in Costa Mesa.”

But he had the motivation and the will to succeed in life. Youth

Employment Services helped him get a job at a Balboa cafe when he was

in high school.

After graduating from high school, he became a hairdresser through

the Regional Occupation Program in school. Working in some of the

high-end salons in Newport Beach, Timmermans was able to earn money

for college.

After working as a hairdresser for 10 years and completing a few

years of college in Orange Coast College and Cal State Long Beach, he

moved to San Francisco, where he got a bachelor’s degree in clinical

psychology and a master’s in counseling psychology from the

University of San Francisco.

“People not doing well can get help like I did,” he said. “There

are organizations that help people interrupt that pattern in their

lives.”

When Timmermans was young, he didn’t realize that he was part of

an underprivileged group, he said.

“Somehow, I thought that’s how everybody lived,” he said.

It is wonderful to see someone who was helped by the nonprofits

now give back, said Pat Ashton, a longtime volunteer at the dental

center on Fairview Road. It used to be in Lido Village when

Timmermans went there.

“Dana is an example of how people using these services can become

successful in life and find the heart to give back to the community,”

she said.

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.