New Hires

Goodbye

Employee Spotlight

Tommy Rendon
Environmental Services – Environmental Specialist

Editor’s Note: This week our Spotlight Specialist HaRi Kim began what she thought would be a short interview with Tommy Rendon. She thought Tommy was reticent. HAH. Believe it or not, what follows is the condensed version. Read the full version here. 

I started working here 1993 – I believe I was a resident in AADAP and I got to the working phase. One of the Environmental Services managers was in the program with me and he says, “Hey, KYCC is hiring.” My counselor in AADAP told me to try working in a different field, because I have always worked in construction, truck driving and stuff like that.

I got so many memories. I was here when Bong Hwan Kim was the director.

We were located right on the corner of Western and Hollywood in a trailer. It was like a park out there with a big old mural on the wall right next to us.  When the earthquake hit in 1994, some of the brick buildings on Hollywood Boulevard collapsed. I was on my way to work that morning when the earthquake hit. When I got there, the trailers were just tossed up and everything was a mess. So that day, we just cleaned up, and we started helping out. We started taking water to KYCC. People were donating clothes – new stuff. We used our trucks and took a lot of water and clothing to help out.

Eventually Metro bought that property, so we were asked to move. We moved to 6^th and Oxford, and I became a supervisor there. I got involved with the water conservation program. I started learning more about toilets – the names of the toilets, the brand, how they work, how to install them, how to fix them. And I did that for 10 years. Then we moved from Oxford to Serrano. I started doing graffiti removal, water conservation, and recycling when I first started. They built a golf range, so we got kicked out of there as well. From there, we had nowhere to go. We wanted to be in Koreatown, but it was expensive to be in Koreatown and we ended up finding the Pico site. It was an old building – our office was tore up, no bathrooms. We actually had to pay a contractor to make the offices. I did the plumbing for the bathrooms.

We did a lot, and it was a really good experience. Water conservation created a lot of jobs, and we did so well that Orange County starting water conservation in 2001. So I got a call from the contractor that got the contract in Orange County. I ended up going to Orange County for water conservation and basically I took everything that I’ve learned from KYCC and brought it over there. A lot of people were not happy when I left because they liked me here. I didn’t really want to leave, but they wanted me to help out over there. They did offer me some more money, I was happy working here, but I ended up going to help out over there. Meanwhile, I was still keeping in touch with KYCC and with the manager, Dory. When I found out that he was sick, I started calling and asked how he was doing. I prayed for the guy because he was a pretty good guy. When the program finished, Dory offered me a job back at KYCC. When I came back, I started getting bigger contracts – nothing but apartments and we were installing them like crazy.

I started dreaming of toilets.

I’m serious, I had a dream about toilets going around in circles, and they were flying! That’s when I knew that I had to stop. After that, a year later, they stopped water conservation and started the tree planting program. I started learning about trees and Jerry became my supervisor. I’ve used all of my working experience in irrigation sprinkler system, landscape experience, and I’ve used all that experience that I’ve learned in my life working with ES. Even my truck driving experience.

I work at AADAP on the weekends. I oversee people that have alcohol and drug problems and want to change their lives around. They face substance abuse. When people get into confrontations, sometimes I run groups. I take them to the beach, to the park. I used to do anger management class. Now what I do is I take them out on the weekends and teach them how to cut grass, trim hedges, teach them how to do landscape maintenance and other skills for them to learn. When they have a broken pipe at AADAP, I do their plumbing.

I changed my life in AADAP and KYCC. It’s important for nonprofits because it does give back to the community. It’s not just painting graffiti, but gang prevention. Get that graffiti off the wall so you don’t have the gangs going at it. For a lot of the guys that come to KYCC for community service, I use my experience from AADAP and here. A lot of guys receive DUIs, and I end up counseling people here at work in KYCC. It’s combined – the work I do in the weekends over there, I bring it back over here to the people because a lot come in for domestic violence, DUIs.

We communicate while at work, and they tell me what they’re here for. I had one today that was here for DUI, and we ended up talking about it. I was like, “You know what, and I am going on 12 years sobriety”. I would have had 25, but I drank a little bit. I’m not perfect, but I knew that I didn’t want to do it anymore. My daughter, Denise who worked for us as a Summer youth, she helped change my life to just stop completely. She was seven years old. I spent a lot of money on alcohol, and I realized that I could have been spending that money on buying my kids clothes and doing things together. She looked at me one day and said, “Dad, I don’t like the way you are when you drink”. That really touched me and I was like, “Wow. You know what, I promise you I’ll never drink again”. From that day on, I haven’t drank.

Life was hard for me in supporting six of us all together. I needed to make extra money, so I started installing toilets on the side during the water conservation program. I got permission from Johng Ho to go ahead and install toilets after hours. I knew Johng Ho for a long time. I have a pretty good relationship with Johng Ho, he is a very good friend. My kids used to call him uncle, and his kids used to call me Uncle Tommy. My lifestyle was different. I started being a father and more of a provider and my life changed quite a bit. Come to think of it, that was one of the reasons why I left KYCC because I had a bigger family and had to make more money. But now, when I think back, I wish I would have never left. Because it’s not all about the money. But, I’m back. I’ve been back. I’m going on 12 years on October 17^th.

I’m a baseball player, I love bowling. I love playing sports. I love teaching kids. I love to cook and cook with my kids. I like cooking carne asada, guacamole, beans and rice, and enchiladas. I cook for my kids now. I’ve been divorced for three years, but we have a good relationship. I moved out of Koreatown to get a house in La Puente. I moved there in November, now I’ve got a little front yard. At that particular time, working with AADAP and KYCC, I was able to pay off my bills. Joe made me go over to Audrey and see her about budgeting my money and how to save. It worked out fine. I was able to save and KYCC helped me a lot in coming up with the down payment. They gave me a little loan and I was able to get enough money to put a down payment and get a little house. It worked out pretty good. It was a new phase, and I needed to move on. By getting pressured by the owner, “Hey, you should buy a house. You know, you’ve got family, you’ve got, kids, you got grandchildren”. He was a good owner, but the tenants were complaining about me. We have two dogs. He was okay with the small dog, but he wasn’t okay with the Pitbull. Denise had the Pitbull and my son had the little dog.

So, I believe in God, I really do, and I believe He works in mysterious ways. I believe that through this whole period of changing my life from going through my alcohol problem and everything I was doing, then graduating from the AADAP program, and getting a job at KYCC – everything just changed my life. I went along with everything in life and noticed that when I do the right thing in life, good things happen. So I look back and say, “Man, I work for KYCC, which is a really good company. I work for the two best non-profits I believe in California. I’m really lucky to work for AADAP, and I’m really lucky to work here. I know Sam from AADAP, Byron from AADAP, and I’ve known G for 20 years from AADAP. I’m trying to study right now to get certified as a drug counselor. But it’s so stressful. I’ve been working at AADAP going on eight years – I’ve been working seven days a week for eight years. Because of that, I’m able to afford to pay the house, and help other people like how I received help. I don’t know if it’s catching up to me, but I’m having doubts about becoming a drug and alcohol counselor.

I promised myself that when I graduated from AADAP years ago, I wanted to become a counselor. Now that I’m there and there’s an opportunity to be a counselor, it’s like climbing a mountain and I’m almost there to the top. But I don’t want to get to the mountain top. I don’t know why, but maybe because it’s been such a big challenge for me. It’s a goal that I’ve made. I set a lot of long term goals after leaving AADAP, and I’ve accomplished all of them except becoming a counselor. I just have to do it and motivate my self.

Working at KYCC allowed me to give back to society and work for the community because community to me is what helped me change my life. I donate money to United Way, to the Asian Fund, because I know those programs are what keeps our programs alive too. I give back in certain ways. Not only by picking up trash, but I’m giving back because that’s why Tommy’s been who he is able to be.  It’s been a journey, and it’s been good. Compared to who Tommy was because of his addiction and to who he is now, I feel pretty proud of myself. I don’t pat myself on the back too much, but sometimes I buy me some new tennis shoes. Haha. I think God has been good to me. And I’ve been trying to be good to myself. Be happy where you are working at.

That’s my autobiography.

 

Community News

10 Things that most don’t know about Koreatown, but KYCC folks probably already know!

A bunch of new developments coming around the Wilshire/Western Metro Stop, including one across the street form our Wilton site.

First change in developer fees in 30 years will bring $30 million to LA Parks. This is particularly great news for park-poor areas like Koreatown.

Seen that weird looking building with a big R on 8^th Street? Well, they have a great brunch!

Food Spot(light)

KYCC Staff’s Favorite Food Spot(light)

El Chato Taco Truck 

5300 W Olympic Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90019

One of my favorite street taco trucks in Los Angeles.

Submitted by: Luke Park, Prevention Education

Cuisine: Tacos

What do you like about this restaurant?

“They are open from 9 PM to either 12:30 AM or 3:30 AM (depends on the day). Price is on lower side and taste is on higher side (my personal opinion). Try el pastor tacos, you won’t regret it. BTW, its cash only.“

Check out more staff favorites here. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Submit it here.

Birthdays and KYCC Anniversaries

Open Positions

Have some talented and driven friends? Let them know about our open positions.

• ES – Environmental Specialist: Graffiti Removal
• PE – Civic Engagement Trainer
• PE – Lead Youth Organizer
• CS – Counselor III (Bilingual English/Korean)
• CS – Counselor III (Bilingual English/Spanish)
• Admin – Grant Writer
• KT – Assistant Preschool Director

Take Note!

Corrosion