Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 61, No. 34 - August 22, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................6
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Food.......................................5
Hawthorne Happenings....3
Lawndale..............................4
Legals............................. 4,6,7
Real Estate...........................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
75˚/64˚
Saturday
Sunny
74˚/65˚
Sunday
Sunny
75˚/65˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Memorable National Night Out
The 2019 National Night Out was held on at Memorial Park. Visitors enjoyed food, games, music and prizes. Various organizations were present to provide information to the public regarding resources
available to them. Photo: City of Hawthorne
Mychal’s Continues Expansion
with a Digital Printing Operation
By Brian Simon
Seventeen years after it opened in a
Hawthorne church with minimal staffing
and just 16 students, Mychal’s Learning
Place continues to grow both in size and
scope. When last featured in these pages,
the organization had just celebrated the
launch of a new coffee and baked goods food
truck. It didn’t take long for the “Mykie’s
Coffee and Bakery Truck” to make a name
for itself, providing tasty treats at Aviation
Corridor business centers and appearing
at high-profile events such as this month’s
well attended Bite at the Beach festival in
Manhattan Beach and El Segundo’s Main
Street Car Show.
Not to rest on his laurels, Mychal’s
Founder/Executive Director Ed Lynch recently
announced another new business venture
that (as with the food truck) provides job
training and employment opportunities for
young adults with developmental disabilities.
Mychal’s Prints, a digital printing operation,
produces custom-stamped, memorabiliaoriented
items such as t-shirts (direct to
garment) and mugs for companies, groups and
events. “Our primary customer base will be
Mychal’s corporate partners, other non-profits
and community groups in the Los Angeles
area,” Mychal’s Prints’ business plan notes.
With nearly two decades of relationships
built with both businesses and non-profits
in the region, Lynch hopes to parlay all this
good will into a thriving concern that will
benefit companies large and small while also
bolstering the career paths of those with
developmental disabilities – who, according to
studies, comprise a group with a shockingly
high unemployment rate of 85 percent.
Mychal’s Prints currently operates out of
Mychal’s primary site, a 10,000-square foot
facility on Rosecrans that the organization
purchased in 2015 to accommodate its rapid
growth while also providing a base to foster
programs for developmentally disabled youth
and young adults. The objective is to help
these individuals achieve independent, fulfilled
and productive lives.
Mychal’s now well-documented back story
continues to inspire. Lynch named the place
after his daughter who passed away at the age
of seven after suffering with an undiagnosed
neurological disorder that left her wheelchairbound
and unable to communicate through
language. Her doctors thought the malady
would claim her even earlier, but she bravely
persevered for a few more years. When
unimpressed by the available options for his
daughter’s care, Lynch envisioned a center
dedicated to helping those with developmental
disabilities. After Mychal’s death, he ran a
Hawthorne-based special needs program that
eventually shut down and prompted him to
open his own learning facility in 2002. Since
that time, it has grown to more than 130
students and over 145 volunteers.
Lynch hopes Mychal’s Prints will achieve
similar successes to the coffee and bakery
truck that held its grand opening this past
January and has since been on the move
throughout the South Bay at various schools,
businesses and community events. The truck
offers specialty espresso beverages, blended
drinks, freshly brewed teas (including a chai
latte crafted in house by Mychal’s students)
and freshly baked pastries all made in the
commercial kitchen in the Hawthorne facility.
“Our goal with the Mykie’s truck is to promote
inclusion and understanding of people with
developmental disabilities, while providing
quality products to the community,” Lynch
explained. “We hope to soon have the Mykie’s
coffee and bakery truck out in the South Bay
and west side of Los Angeles every day of
the week.”
Lynch added that Mykie’s currently has
25 trainees working as bakers, baristas,
cashiers and in food services. While he noted
that every individual on the team possesses
unique talents and personalized vocational
goals, he pointed to one particular woman
who stands out from the pack. “Elena started
at Mykie’s two years ago, first training as a
barista, then branching out into the kitchen,
and now the truck,” Lynch said. “She is
personable, talented and just happens to be
diagnosed with Down syndrome.”
Because she works in all departments of
Mykie’s, Elena has a decided advantage
in being well-versed in all the products
ranging from the particulars of knowing all
See Mychal’s, page 7