50-Year Palos Verdes Resident Jay R. de Miranda To Receive El Nido Family Centers Lifetime Achievement Award At October 16 Awards Dinner

Jay R. de Miranda, a 50-year resident of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at El Nido Family Centers’ Champions for Families Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 16, at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Jay was introduced to El Nido Family Centers, a Los Angeles non-profit agency providing services for at-risk youths and families since 1925, through his daughter-in-law’s sister. He supported the non-profit through personal financial donations and through his work, helping to manage and grow El Nido’s financial resources.

Of particular note is the Shirley de Miranda Memorial Scholarship Fund, created in honor of his late wife, awarding college scholarships to 10 to 12 El Nido clients every year. And since 2002, Jay’s major venture into private philanthropy—the De Miranda Foundation with current assets of $5 million—has been providing through U.S. and international charities “a longtime financial umbrella for needy children—one child at a time.”

On the private front, the De Miranda Foundation funds agencies that directly provide basic life needs such as food, clothes and medical care to deprived children. A typical year now sees distribution of about a quarter-million dollars to about ten domestic and international charities. Nido is included every year as are other domestic organizations in the South Bay and Southern California. Global grants go to charities in Uganda, Nepal and India.

Jay came to the US from the Netherlands in 1955, speaking little English, with only a few dollars in his pocket. He settled in Palos Verdes and went to work for SAS Airlines, then made his entrepreneurial mark as a successful major investor in and manager of multi-family properties.

When Jay retired 15 years ago, he wanted to do something positive to help his community. As an entrepreneur, he knew that private money could fund social good, such as establishing a charitable foundation. “But what I wasn’t familiar with,” he admits, “was the concept that government grants could flow through social service agencies to carry out worthy programs.”

Jay loves airplanes and flying. He became a licensed glider pilot at age 16, served in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, trained as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force and for 30 years, piloted his own Cessna 182 to domestic, Canadian, Mexican and Caribbean destinations as well as maintaining a Grob 103 glider airplane. Once he arrived in the U.S., Jay worked for 15 years at SAS Airlines. He bought his first rental property in 1960, and then another and another. Eventually he was a major investor in income properties and also operated for 23 years a 125-person firm that managed his and other owners’ apartment complexes. He was president of the Greater Los Angeles Apartment Association. Outside interests included racing sailboats, running marathons and traveling the world.

For over 50 years, Jay has called the Palos Verdes Peninsula home and his four children and nine grandchildren all live in Southern California. He resides there still with his fiancé, Jacqueline Ellis.

ABOUT EL NIDO FAMILY CENTERS

El Nido Family Centers is a 501(c) 3, non-profit organization founded in 1925. Last year El Nido served over 11,000 children, youth and family members with its child abuse prevention and treatment, youth development, teen parenting and parent education programs in Los Angeles County. El Nido serves a wide area of Los Angeles County, from the Antelope and San Fernando Valleys, to Central/South L.A., Inglewood, Compton and Wilmington/San Pedro. El Nido Family Centers offer numerous, diverse services at their sites as well as outreach programs located in schools, housing projects, health and community centers, and in-home counseling and visitations.

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For press information, photos or interviews email Elaine Doran or call Doran Public Relations 818.238.9005. For information on El Nido, please visit (www.elnidofamilycenters.org).