About Our Chapter

NCL, Inc., Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter is a group of mothers and daughters who have come together in a commitment to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences.
Members shall reside in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. Like all NCL, Inc. Chapters, Manhattan-Hermosa aims to foster the mother-daughter relationship by serving its communities together.

Established in 2009, the Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter is the area’s oldest NCL Chapter, with more that 550 past and current members who volunteer at philanthropic organizations throughout Southern California. From 2021-2022, we volunteered almost 8,000 hours together across all of our philanthropies! We are so grateful for all of our incredible philanthropy partners and believe they are a huge part of what makes our NCL Chapter so unique!

The Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter also has a thriving Sustainer Membership group that remains connected and actively engaged in serving our philanthropies. Proof that the NCL bond extends beyond the high school years!                                                           

Join Our Chapter

Interested in joining our chapter? Membership opportunities are dependent on chapter openings.

If you know someone in our chapter, talk to her about getting started, membership obligations and our membership drive timeline.  If you do not know someone in NCL, you are invited to complete this Membership Inquiry Form.

Membership Inquiry Form

For any questions regarding Membership, requests for transfers or assistance with connecting as a Sustainer, email us.

Our Chapter’s annual membership drive runs from January 15 through March 1. We will host information sessions in January and February and strongly encourage you to attend one to learn more. Check back here later this year for more information.

Community Service

We understand and serve communities in partnership with local and national nonprofits. Each NCL, Inc. chapter promotes social awareness by considering the local community’s needs and selecting appropriate non-profit organizations to support through different volunteer activities.

We work with the following philanthropies:

• 1736 Family Crisis Center
• Alzheimer’s Association
• American Heart Association
• American Red Cross
• Angel City Sports
• Any Soldier
• Children’s Dental Health Clinic
• City of Hermosa Beach
• City of Manhattan Beach
• County of Los Angeles Public Library, Manhattan Beach Branch
• Disaster Response
• Family Promise
• Food Forward
• Habitat For Humanity of Greater Los Angeles
• Heal the Bay
• ICAN
• Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – Greater LA
• Little League Challenger Baseball
• Momentum
• Mychal’s Learning Place
• One Voice LA
• Operation Gratitude
• PS I Love You Foundation
• Richstone Family Center
• Saint Sebastian Sports Project
• Shared Bread
• Special Olympics Southern California
• St. Joseph Center
• Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
• Switzer Learning Center
• The Lovejoy Foundation
• Wreaths Across America

 

 

Class of 2023 Senior Project

Each year, members of our Senior Class come up with a special project benefitting one of our philanthropy partners. The current Class of 2023 selected The Lovejoy Foundation as the lucky winner this time around. Since starting her foundation in 2010, Director and Founder Erin Lovejoy has rehabilitated and re-homed more than 8,000 dogs. Erin’s mission is to make sure no dog is ever left without a home or a purpose.

Our NCL volunteers work with Erin and her rescue dogs on a weekly basis. Ticktockers and Patronesses get to walk the happy pups and cuddle up with them during Lovejoy’s adoption events and vaccine clinics. It’s always hard to tell who is getting the better end of the deal when volunteering at Lovejoy, however!

Our Senior Class recognized that Erin could use a little help sprucing up her adoption space. So our hard working girls set out to build new benches for the humans and created carts to move all of the dog crates around the facility. Doing good for dogs and humans – not bad! Thanks to our amazing Class of 2023!

 

 

Leadership Development

We build capable, courageous leaders through opportunities to learn, reflect and develop. Our leaders become successful in their education, career and communities by learning the necessary skills during their NCL experience.

Examples of skills developed include:

• Confidence
• Consensus building
• Team building
• Conflict resolution
• Event planning
• Parliamentary procedure

Our Chapter Board of Directors:

• President: Louisa Cushman
• President Elect: Kimberly Rosenfeld
• Secretary: Jennifer Buchsbaum
• Treasurer: Keri Herczeg
• Parliamentarian: Lisa Valde Severin
• Vice President Communications: Julie Schmirler
• Vice President Membership: Monique Vranesh
• Vice President Philanthropy: Nancy Neal
• Vice President New Members: Christine Shultz
• Vice President Ticktockers: Jennifer Morrow
• Sustainer Liaison: Hilary Mahan
• Vice President Chapter Engagement and Inclusion: Shauna Mullins

 

Cultural Experiences

We preserve National Charity League traditions and core values, while appreciating the growth that comes from connecting with different communities and cultures. We continually strive to build stronger ties with our communities and the individuals within them. It is through this understanding that we grow and develop broader worldviews that will shape and support our lives.

• Traditions – We celebrate the richness of our history through traditions that honor the past while serving the future.
• Values – We embrace values that make us strong as an organization of mother-daughter leaders.
• Community Connections – We build connections through experiences that impact our communities.
• Etiquette – We encourage and mentor kind, respectful and gracious social conduct.

Why We Are Unique

 Ticktocker Focus

GUIDE is the brainchild of Class of 2023 Ticktocker, Ellie Meyer. After the story of George Floyd gripped the nation, Ellie said it was very difficult to watch her friends, the majority of whom are not white, struggle with issues of race and inequality. She wanted to do something to help bring about change. Hence, GUIDE was born. Standing for: Generosity, Unity, Inclusion, Diversity & Equality, Ellie calls it a “much needed and overdue program”. Ellie was initially approached by her Grade Level Advisors about working on a Kindness Initiative, but she wanted something more inclusive that would teach her fellow Ticktockers about the importance of truly embracing others.

Ellie created lesson plans for the 2021-2022 NCL year. Each month a new topic was presented and discussed at both Ticktocker meetings as well as Patroness meetings. The first lesson in September focused on National Hispanic Heritage Month. Other topics that were addressed included mental health, LGBTQ+ History Month, women empowerment, Black History Month, self-identity,and bystander intervention training. Ellie feels strongly that all of these issues are important, but “particularly with a group of developing girls”.

Ellie says she’d love for other NCL Chapters to notice her program and implement something similar. We hope so too! We’re so proud of you, Ellie, and so impressed by your dedication to such a worthy endeavor.

 

Awards & Accolades

Blue Rose Chapter Award Recipient (2022, 2021 & 2020)
Mychal’s Place Angel Award Recipient (2021)
Leader of the Year – Patroness: Bonnie Vogel (2020)
NCL, Inc. Ticktocker Advisory Council Representation – Ticktockers: Meredith Kenney (2021-2022) & Madeleine Driscoll (2020-2021)
Outstanding Chartered Chapter Program (2016)
Outstanding Ticktocker Program Award (2013)

Our well established history has afforded us the opportunity to have recognized so many of our members with not only NCL Service Awards, but also Presidential Volunteer Service Awards. Since our inception in 2009, our Chapter has received more than 1000 awards! And 350 of those are Presidential Volunteer Service Awards. 

The PVSA program began in 2003 as a way for volunteers to be recognized for their role in America’s strength and national identity. We are so proud that so many of our girls have been honored for their contributions at such a high level.

The Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter is also pleased to have presented over 400 Mother-Daughter pairs with awards for completing at least 30 philanthropy hours together. We’ve also handed out more than 25 Hourglass Awards to Ticktockers that have completed 100 philanthropy hours or more in a given year. 

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Blue Rose Chapter Award as well. This prestigious honor is given to NCL Chapters who are in good standing and follow national protocols, participate in Giving Tuesday and National Philanthropy Initiatives, and have an active Sustainer Program. We’re honored to have been given the Blue Rose Chapter Award in 2020, 2021 and again in 2022.

Each year, the Merci Award is given to the Ticktocker who completes the most philanthropic service hours during the year. At our annual tea in September, we were very happy to present the honor to Kaitlyn Tran from the Class of 2025. Kaitlyn volunteered a whopping 141 hours during the 2021-2022 calendar year!

Any Soldier and Operation Gratitude are Kaitlyn’s favorite philanthropies. She loves writing letters to soldiers and making pillowcases for our troops overseas and says being able to do so really puts their sacrifice into perspective. 

Kaitlyn’s favorite part about volunteering is knowing that she’s making a positive impact on someone’s life. As she puts it: “Helping someone else out by donating a few hours of my time makes not only them feel good, but me as well.”

Kaitlyn’s mom, Kelly, says she has seen her daughter’s confidence grow as a result of their time in NCL. Kelly is particularly proud of the community awareness Kaitlyn has gained through volunteering. 

Being able to work together is another one of the things Kaitlyn and Kelly cherish most about NCL. Kaitlyn says the experience has really strengthened their bond. Kaitlyn is grateful for the time volunteering alongside her mom because Kelly is busy with a career and two other children, which makes the time she spends with Kaitlyn that much more special. One memory that sticks out in Kelly’s mind is when the two of them sewed masks during Covid.  She said being able to make a difference alongside her daughter during such a difficult time was truly priceless!

Thanks to Kelly & Kaitlyn for your hard work on behalf of the Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter!