There’s more than a hint of pride in Sandy Ramirez’s voice when she speaks of Riverside Life Services. The nonprofit’s executive director wants to ensure individuals feel supported in their pregnancy decisions and that everybody has the tools they need to move forward with confidence.

“All of our services to the community are at no charge,” Ramirez shared. “That’s all of our pregnancy tests, our ultrasounds, our material goods, such as diapers, the boutique and clothes we have available, and more. Every dollar we get goes straight into our patient services.”

Which makes everything from grant funding and donations a well-needed bonus for the nonprofit. To that end, Ramirez expressed gratitude for a recent grant the nonprofit received from Inland Empire Community Foundation, which will support several offerings.

Some of those include pregnancy services, such as pregnancy confirmation, as well as counseling and mentorship. Funding also supports education programs, such as an “earn while you learn” component—for every class an individual takes at the nonprofit, they can then shop in the organization’s Baby Boutique, “earning” such things as clothes, diapers, wipes, equipment, and other items.

Other standout classes include Newborn and Postpartum Care, which provides information on the first 40 days after giving birth, and why that determines how well and how quickly somebody recovers from the experience. Postpartum depression and new baby care are also covered in this class.

Support groups also filter into the mix. With an emphasis on community, the nonprofit offers individualized monthly groups for women experience a broad range of issues—from healing from miscarriages or challenges with breastfeeding to post-abortion support. 

A monthly support group designed specifically for fathers, Dads for Life, further showcases the organization’s commitment to the individual’s well-being. The nonprofit also offers referrals to other community resources if needed. 

“I just love our goal and mission of loving and encouraging moms, families, and babies,” Ramirez added.

Riverside Life Services was founded more than 50 years ago by several women hoping to create a safe haven that assisted women in their pregnancy. The idea was to hold space for women to feel “loved, cherished, and respected.” Five decades later, the organization stands out in the region, and is often praised for the mindful ways it assists women with life planning and moving through life’s “unexpected” twists.

Looking ahead, Ramirez wants people to know that the nonprofit happily takes donations.

“We’d love for people to donate gently used maternity clothes and baby clothes,” she said. “A lot of places that families would go to to donate those items would later be resold, and we don’t do that. All of our donations—what we call material goods, such as maternity clothes and baby clothes up to age 2—we make available for moms and families in our community.“Those are free,” she added. “So anytime anybody gives away baby clothes or baby items, we would love for them to consider us.”

Learn more about Riverside Life Services at riversidelifeservices.org

This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, July 2025.

Stay up to date on all the good work we’re doing through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters, today.

The post Grantee Spotlight: Riverside Life Services supports moms, families and babies appeared first on IECF.

Justness and community are important to Cynthia H. Breunig,

“We’re all about female equity and female empowerment,” Breunig said of the Girl Scouts. “That’s our thing and has been for 113 years.”

A recent grant from Inland Empire Community Foundation has buoyed the organization’s efforts, helping with general operation expenses and its focus on several vital issues.

“We have different regions, they’re called councils, and each is a separate 501c3,” Breunig said. “We reflect the interests and challenges in each of our communities. The focus here—all over Riverside and most of San Bernardino—is about the wage inequity between males and females, especially in the Inland Empire.”

“Women in Vermont have probably the closest disparity at .89 cents for every dollar for a white male,” she added. “In the Inland Empire, it’s.75 cents for Black women, and for Hispanics, it’s.51 cents. About two-thirds of the low-paying California jobs are in our region.”

These issues are “top of mind” for Breunig and the San Gorgonio arm of Girl Scouts, and while she is quick to say that the organization can be “all hearts and rainbows and lots of little girls and cookies,” there’s something deeper running beneath the surface.

“The underpinnings of all those things have to do with financial literacy, which is a huge thing for us,” she said. “The cookie sale is one of the most successful in the country because so many people participate. But what you may or may not know is that all that money stays in the local economy and regrows this year. It was about $12 million in this local council.”

About 5 percent of that cookie sale is overhead. The rest goes into the girls. 

“This would be girls’ programming and such,” Breunig said. “It goes back to their troops. They’re traveling the world—it goes back to the individual girls so that they can pay for camp and other things like college applications, driver’s education, Letterman jackets, and the whole senior package. 

“It really helps the girls in our community,” she added. “That’s the pay and equity part. The whole cookie sale is set up so that the girls are learning how to run their own businesses.”

Breunig became President and CEO of the organization in 2011. She is a proud Gold Award Girl Scout and quickly credits Girl Scouts with shaping her leadership and business skills. Over the years, she’s been impressed with the impact the organization makes.

She also points out the many famous women who were Girl Scouts, such as American labor leader and feminist activist Dolores Huerta, now 95, who has been a big advocate for Girl Scouts. 

“She said to us that she was a shy little girl and that she found her voice in Girl Scouts,” Breunig added. “And every [female] secretary of state was a Girl Scout. And 90 percent of [female] astronauts were Girl Scouts, and 80 percent of all of our tech leadership.”

Other “famous” Girl Scouts include: Lucille Ball, Katie Couric, Martha Stewart, Venus Williams, and Queen Elizabeth II.

When asked why the organization may be more relevant now than ever before, particularly in an era of extreme political shifts, Breunig is candid:  “It has a lot to do with neighborhoods and communities and participation.”

This links together families and neighborhoods around projects that the girls are working on. 

“Community service has been our thing for the full span of 113 years,” she added. “One example is during the Suffragette Movement and the Right to Vote endeavors—one of the reasons that you don’t see a lot of kids in those photographs of the ladies marching is because Girl Scouts organized nationally to babysit. So, we’re participating at all levels.”

Meanwhile, if there’s a credo that keeps these creative troops motivated, it comes from a reputable source.

“The Brookings Institute says, ‘If you want to change the world, invest in girls,’” Breunig said. “And that’s where we stand.”

Learn more about Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio at gssgc.org.

This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, July 2025.

Stay up to date on all the good work we’re doing through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters, today.

The post Grantee Spotlight: Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio works to empower Inland Empire girls appeared first on IECF.