The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 2 - January 14, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................11
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................2
Legals.................................7,9
Neighborhood Therapist.....3
Pets......................................12
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.......................5-7
Sports....................................3
Weekend
Forecast
In Appreciation for All That You
Do to Keep El Segundo Safe
Saturday, January 9, was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Thank you to ALL law enforcement agencies around the nation, especially the El Segundo Police Department, that protect the citizens
they serve. We would also like to recognize and personally thank our neighboring South Bay agencies for their service and dedication. Photo courtesy El Segundo Police Department.
Walk With Sally to Celebrate
National Mentorship Month
By Kiersten Vannest
Despite bionic advancements, surgical
discoveries, and even record-breaking vaccine
development, as we’ve seen over the last year,
illnesses like cancer continue to affect every
community in every corner of the world. El
Segundo is no exception.
Located on the southeast end of the city
is a nonprofit organization called Walk With
Sally. It’s a mentorship program, pairing
children who are dealing with the illness
of a parent or sibling with an adult who’s
been through a similar experience. With a
multitude of programs and events, the core
of their mission is to “just have fun,” says
program director Julie Cegelski.
Sally is the name of founder Nick Arquette’s
mother, whose battle with cancer affected
him in his teen years. Though he had his
brother, Nick felt a lack of communion with
his peers and adults who hadn’t experienced
the difficulty of cancer in their lives. So in
2005, working as an entrepreneur in the film
industry, Nick sought to give an opportunity
to kids dealing with their own family cancer
El Segundo Mama’s Group Looking
to Stay Connected, Add New Recruits
By Duane Plank
El Segundo resident Amy Siegel is the
co-Vice President of the “Gundo Mamas
Group,” a recently formed consortium
that rallies local women to “lean on one
another for a laugh,” Siegel emailed, as
well as “a hug, a cry, a meal, a play
date, a drink, and anything/everything
else related to sharing the experience of
motherhood in our town.”
Before our phone interview, which took
place in the ramp-up to Christmas, Siegel
emailed that she was “so sorry it’s taken
until now to get you this information. I
have a two-year-old who keeps me nonstop
busy, and I finally got a ‘break’ to
send this to you today while waiting at
a doctor’s appointment.”
Siegel said that her group consists of
about 100 members and that pre-COVID
19 would meet monthly for a park
play date, as well as setting-up weekly
activities for Moms and their children,
host a monthly “Moms Night Out”
excursion locally, and “participate in as
many community events and fundraisers
as possible.”
Siegel said that El Segundo Mama’s
Group used to be called the “Mom’s Club
International.” But after all the unrest and
protests that erupted over the summer
of 2020, the group disbanded and then
launched the Mama’s group, with the aim
to become more inclusive, including working
Moms, part-time working Moms, as
stories. He started Walk With Sally to
give back to the community and provide an
experience he feels would have helped him
as a young adult.
In its early years, it was a labor of love.
It started purely as a volunteer program and
a passion project on the side. Over time, it’s
grown into a fully nonprofit organization
garnering the support of companies like
Chevron and comprising over a hundred
mentor/mentee pairings, helping thousands
of kids over its fifteen-year history connect
with someone who understands their struggle.
At Walk With Sally, they call these mentorships
“Friendships.” Volunteers from all
over the south bay and Los Angeles County
who’ve dealt with a parent or close family
member having cancer get paired with a
child who is currently experiencing it.
Together, they do activities like surfing,
art projects, obstacle courses, and more
recently, virtual gingerbread house making.
These Friendships transcend the program, as
Arquette describes the story of one girl who
lost her single parent to cancer, but whose
mentor showed up to help her settle into her
new college dorm.
“It’s really a community,” says Cegelski.
As she describes it, everyone involved in the
program is more like a big group of family
and friends. While the children get the
See Walk With Sally, page 2
See Mama’s Group, page 8
Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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