Early Childhood
Care, learning, and school readiness for the youngest children, with support close to home for their parents.
LIFE Community Center · Capital Campaign
Not a building.A blessing to generations.
Room for every generation is coming to the San Fernando Valley: the LIFE Community Center, with programs for young people from after-school care to college prep, support for families, services for seniors, and a performance stage and gathering place for the whole community.
LOVE·INSPIRATION·FELLOWSHIP·EMPOWERMENT
One campus where every generationof a family finds support.
Youth Development
After-school programs, academic support, college preparation, mentoring, sports, and recreation that fill the hours between school and home.
Family Support
Counseling, parenting support, and family services that hold households together.
Health and Mental Health
Health access, peer support, education, and wellness programming for children and adults alike.
Senior Services
Day programming, nutrition, and connection that keep older neighbors independent and in community.
Community Gathering
A performance hall and gathering space for the celebrations, performances, meetings, and moments that hold a neighborhood together.
The center is built as a hub: community organizations operating under one roof, under shared standards, so a family's needs are answered in one place instead of scattered across the Valley.
- A child in an after-school program in the classrooms.
- A high school student in a college prep session.
- Children in club sports on the court in the gymnasium.
- A performing arts production on the stage.
- Children and parents in pediatric mental-health counseling.
- Seniors sharing daily activities, friendships, and hot lunches served from the kitchen.
- Families gathering in the chapel for weddings, celebrations of life, and community events.
The same building, the same day, a campus where every generation is supported, connected, and safe.
The center's name is a commitment spelled out.
- Love
- Inspiration
- Fellowship
- Empowerment
LIFE
A building like this, at this scale, does not come up twice.
The LIFE Community Center is coming to the San Fernando Valley, and the building that will hold it is under contract.
Under Contract18425 Ingomar Street, Reseda
It is 2.31 acres at 18425 Ingomar Street: a 14,827 square foot building with a gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts and a performance stage, a 170-seat community room that transforms into a chapel for weddings, funerals, performances, and community events, classrooms, meeting rooms, a serving kitchen, and 152 gated parking spaces. It was built in 1991 as a church, and it sits directly beside the campus of the congregation that founded the center, which gives the building something no other site could offer: a neighbor already committed to filling it.
$100,000 is deposited in escrow, and the purchase price has been verified by an independent appraisal. Escrow is scheduled to close December 7, 2026.
Between now and then, this campaign will raise $1.8 million: the down payment, the initial renovation, and the closing costs that turn a building for sale into a center serving families across the San Fernando Valley for decades.
2.31Acres in Reseda
14,827Square feet
170Seats in the community room
152Gated parking spaces
The supports families needare scattered and hard to reach.
Children don't have enough safe places to go after school. Young learners start kindergarten already behind. Teens carry the weight of exams, graduation pressure, and the stress of staying on track. High school and local college students quietly battle food insecurity and need tutoring just to keep their dreams alive.
Parents are working long hours and still struggling to find mental-health care that feels accessible and welcoming. Adults need job training and a path forward. Seniors spend too many days alone, without the programs and connection that keep them independent.
No single need creates a campus, but together, they paint a picture of a community waiting for one place where every generation can walk in and feel supported, seen, and safe.
These are the families
the LIFE Community Center is being built for.
The center will open withcommunity partners already at the door.
Five organizations have applied for space in the LIFE Community Center, and they applied before the building was purchased. Among them:
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Community Organizing
A multiracial, multi-faith community organizing network that works with more than 70 congregations across Los Angeles County.
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Mental Health Support
The county affiliate of a national mental health alliance, offering no-cost, peer-led mental health support groups and education.
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Youth Leadership
A leadership development program for boys ages 6 to 17, marking twenty years of work in 2026.
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Education
An education program serving 6th through 12th grade scholars through culturally responsive learning.
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Food Security and Girls' Programs
A cultural collective whose work includes weekly food distribution and a Girl Scout troop of more than 110 girls from kindergarten through 12th grade.
That is what the need looks like when it is given an address. The center will open with community partners already at the door, not with empty rooms.
Applications are exactly that: applications. Program agreements follow the purchase, under standards the center's leadership is establishing for how programs operate together.
Today, and as envisioned.
-
The GymnasiumBasketball and volleyball courts -
Community GatheringCelebrations, performances, and community events -
The Community RoomCelebrations, performances, and meetings -
Early Childhood SuiteEarly childhood readiness -
The ClassroomsYouth development and college preparation -
Senior ServicesConnection and day programs for seniors -
CounselingPediatric and adult mental health -
Family SupportCounseling, parenting support, and family services -
The Meeting RoomsMentoring and small groups -
The Serving KitchenSenior lunches, community meals, café
A plan built on thorough due diligence.
The numbersFigure
Purchase price$5,450,000
Independent appraisalAt the contract priceMAI-certified
Escrow deposit$100,000confirmed deposited
Campaign goal$1,800,000by December 7, 2026
What the $1.8 million does.
It funds the down payment on the purchase, the initial renovation that readies the building for programs, and closing costs. The balance of the purchase is financed through a loan secured by the two campuses, supported by sustained giving and the center's program partnerships.
The dates that matter.
On October 6, 2026, campaign leadership decides whether to proceed, the point at which the $100,000 deposit becomes non-refundable. Escrow is scheduled to close December 7, 2026. Every gift between now and then moves the decision from hope to certainty.
October 6, 2026Leadership decision point
December 7, 2026Escrow scheduled to close
The campaign is broader than any one gift.
Alongside individual giving, the campaign team has submitted more than $5.3 million in grant applications, and continues to develop institutional and corporate partnerships. Gifts to this campaign stand alongside that work; they do not stand alone.
Every gift is treated as a trust.
The purchase price was verified by an independent certified appraisal before the campaign proceeded. Leadership holds a formal decision point before the deposit becomes non-refundable. The campaign reports its progress openly. And because the building will be owned outright, with no landlord and no lease to lose, every dollar given becomes a permanent asset serving this community for decades.
The Ask
The campaign needs gifts at every level, and it needs leadership gifts first.
Reaching $1.8 million takes 73 gifts at named levels, beginning with a lead gift of $250,000, plus gifts of every size from across the community.
$1.8 million
The goal
by December 7, 2026
73
Gifts at named levels
plus gifts of every size from across the community
Giving Structure
What it takes to reach $1.8 million. Each row is one giving level: the gift size, how many are needed, what they add up to, and how much of the goal that covers.
Gift sizeGifts neededLevel totalShare of the $1.8M goal
$250,0001 gift$250,00013.9%
$150,0002 gifts$300,00016.7%
$75,0004 gifts$300,00016.7%
$40,0008 gifts$320,00017.7%
$20,00012 gifts$240,00013.3%
$10,00018 gifts$180,00010.0%
$5,00028 gifts$140,0007.8%
Under $5,000every gift$70,0003.9%
Total73 gifts at named levels, plus broad participation$1,800,000100%
Giving levels
- Cornerstone$100,000 and above
- Foundation$50,000 to $99,999
- Builder$20,000 to $49,999
- Steward$5,000 to $19,999
- Family of the CenterEvery gift
Three ways to give
01
Campaign gifts, fulfilled before the December 7 close.
Outright gifts, or pledges paid in full before close. These fund the down payment and closing.
02
Multi-year pledges, up to three years.
A commitment fulfilled in installments through 2029, with the first payment made at the time of pledge. These fund renovation and support the mortgage after the purchase.
03
Monthly sustaining gifts.
Recurring monthly giving, begun during the campaign and continuing past it.
Gifts of appreciated assets and estate commitments are welcomed, each arranged through the campaign. Many employers match charitable gifts; ask whether yours does.
Whatever the size, every gift buys the same thing: a place that will still be serving families here when the people who gave it are names on a story someone tells.
Every gift has a part in this campaign.
Leadership Gifts
Fifteen gifts of $40,000 and above carry 65% of the goal. What a leadership gift builds, and the spaces it can name.
Learn MoreCorporate Partners
For a business in the Valley, the families this center is built for are the families it already serves. Partnership levels, and what partners receive.
Learn MoreFoundation Partners
Youth development, family services, senior services, food security, and community health, under one roof. The full case, and what comes with a request.
Learn MoreLegacy Giving
A plan protects the people you love. Four ways to make a legacy commitment, and how to start the conversation.
Learn MoreThe Church Family
The church family has done this before. What the congregation is building, and every way a household can take part.
Learn MoreNot a building.A blessing to generations.
The center's founding congregation has done this before.
Reseda Church of Christ, established in 1959, has a long history of investing in the stability and wellbeing of the San Fernando Valley. In 1996, the congregation acquired and developed its current campus in Reseda, sustaining community programs for nearly thirty years. The LIFE Community Center represents the next step in that legacy, a regional asset built to serve families across Reseda, Northridge, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, and the broader Valley.
That continuity has a face. Dr. Dewayne Winrow has led this congregation since 1975. The campaign is led by professionals with decades of experience in real estate, finance, law, education, and community organizing.
Dr. Dewayne WinrowSenior Minister, Reseda Church of ChristFounding Congregation of the LIFE Community Center
A Word from Dr. Winrow
For more than fifty years I have watched this community carry its needs to our doors, and I have watched those needs grow beyond what any one program can hold.
The LIFE Community Center is our answer: one campus where every generation of a family finds support, under one roof, in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. It will belong to everyone it serves. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever you believe, its doors will be open to you.
Opportunities like this one do not wait, and they do not come back. The building is secured under contract, the plan is sound, and the date is set. What stands between this community and its center is the decision each of us makes right now.
So I am not asking you to give to a building. I am asking you to give the families of this Valley a place that will outlast every one of us, and to put your own hands on the best thing we will ever build together.
Come build it with us.
Not a building.A blessing to generations.
The building is under contract. The plan has been checked. The partners have applied. The last piece is the giving, and that piece belongs to all of us.
Ready to give, want to meet with campaign leadership, or exploring a partnership? Reach out and tell us what you have in mind.
How to Give
There is more than one way to take part, and every one of them counts toward the same goal.
- One-time giftOutright, fulfilled before the December 7 close.
- PledgeFulfilled by December 7, 2026.
- Multi-year pledgeOver up to three years, first payment with your commitment.
- Monthly sustaining giftRecurring giving, begun during the campaign and continuing past it.
- By checkPayable to LIFE Community Center.
- Stock, appreciated assets, or real propertyArranged through the campaign.
Questions about any of these?
Every gift is a trust. Thank you for building a blessing to generations.