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.
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