About Our New Name

Lake Avenue Community Foundation has a new name!

Lake Avenue Community Foundation is changing its name to Stars.  Why? With our current name, people often assume we are Lake Avenue Church or a charitable foundation. Unfortunately, both assumptions restrict donor and grant opportunities. With our new organizational name Stars, we will:

  1. Continue to be a faith-based organization,
  2. Continue our strong partnership with Lake Avenue Church
  3. Continue our commitment to the same vision and mission
  4. Be better positioned for more funding opportunities

Based on our 20+ year history with the STARS After School program, and with name recognition in the community, the name Stars will launch us well into the future, as we continue in our vision and mission of walking alongside young people.

Doesn’t the organization do more than the Stars After-School program?

Yes! The meaning of “Stars” will have to be broadened to cover all the work of the organization—after school programming for grades 1-12, mentoring, summer enrichment, camps, trips, college preparation and completion support, and counseling—and partnering closely with the parents of our students to help support the whole family.

Is the organization going to continue to be faith-based?

Yes!  Our vision remains the same—a thriving, interdependent community where lives are transformed.  Our mission is also the same:  Unleashing the God-given potential of youth from vulnerable communities, providing the tools necessary to thrive academically, emotionally, economically, and spiritually.

Is the partnership with Lake Avenue Church changing?

No!  Our partnership remains strong!   Stars is the primary non-profit partner of Lake Avenue Church around education issues and that will continue.  We will continue to recruit volunteers and donors from the LAC family, send our students to camp alongside LAC, and continue to build cross-cultural relationships between families, volunteers, staff, and church members.

Does Stars have partnerships with other churches?

Yes!  Several other churches partner with us in various ways.  For example, La Canada Presbyterian Church has given us financial support and helped us recruit volunteers.  Montrose Church/Bresee Campus partners with us to host Stars 45 and Middle School Stars.  We have volunteers from many area churches like Paz Naz, Winds of Hope, Fellowship Monrovia, and more.

Is Stars an acronym?

While STARS was originally an acronym for the after school program, we are now broadening the meaning of Stars and dropping the acronym, as it no longer fully describes our mission. We also are changing the usage from all capital “STARS” to lowercase “Stars”.

Learn more about Stars