Local philanthropists help make Kids' Turn a success
Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, June 8, 2003

The statistic is familiar: 50 percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. Less frequently considered are the implications of the statistic: that virtually everyone -- from our mothers and fathers to our brothers, sisters, cousins and friends -- has at one time or another been affected, personally or vicariously, by the anguish of divorce.

Few nonprofits are devoted entirely to helping people cope with divorce. Among them is Kids' Turn, which has survived and grown during its 15-year- history because of the demand for its services and the financial support from a wide range of Bay Area philanthropic individuals, foundations and corporations. That list includes psychiatrist Margo Leahy, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donna Hitchens, mediator Jeanne Ames, the Louis R. Lurie Foundation, the Charles A. Becker Foundation, the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation and Versace, Vodafone and Wells Fargo Bank, to name a few.

"Kids' Turn is totally necessary because more than 50 percent of the population goes through a divorce, and we are dealing with psychological and emotional damage created by it," said Elizabeth Thieriot, who supports the group with her husband, Kip, and the Thieriot Family Foundation.

She is impressed with the counseling and education that helps children and adults to cope with feelings of vengefulness and anger, and to learn that just because a parent fails at a relationship doesn't mean that a child has to fail at relationships, too.

Kids' Turn "gives hope that people can be good -- and that things don't always work out -- but life continues and life can be rebuilt after divorce, for parents and children simultaneously," said Thieriot, who has been divorced in the past. "Just because you went through a divorce does not mean your life is over."

More than a third of the nonprofit's $500,000 annual operating budget comes from private donations. Individual contributions account for 12 percent of the total; fund-raising events, 27 percent; fees, 17 percent; contributions from private foundations and corporations, 24 percent; and miscellaneous contributions and reserves, 20 percent, according to an e-mail from Claire Barnes, executive director for the nonprofit.

This year's gala, held at the Ritz-Carlton and co-chaired by attorney W. Gregory Engel and Kim Martinez, raised $50,000, which will underwrite the cost of children's programs in the five Bay Area counties where Kids' Turn operates.

Adults are charged on a sliding scale but no one is turned away because of an inability to pay.

With its heavy reliance on private donations, the nonprofit's finances grew tighter this year as the continuing economic slump caused several foundations to reduce the amount of their donations or stop altogether. Streamlining operations and offering classes in Spanish and violence-free child-rearing are among the ways that the nonprofit hopes to expand services and reach out to disenfranchised groups, which could help Kids' Turn prove more appealing to donors.

The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, which is known more for its support of environmental causes than family counseling efforts, also has been a longtime contributor to Kids' Turn. Bob Gamble, director of the Goldman Fund, put it simply: "Kids' Turn serves a unique niche."