Curb painting on residential address numbers begins Sept. 25

Hello - I live in Casta del Sol in Mission Viejo. Does the curb number painting include this gated community? I believe our area could benefit from this since there are numerous 911 calls from older folks who live here.
Thank you in advance for your information, Linda Duffy

Thank you for your comment on the News page. This curb addressing program is exclusively for residents residing on publicly owned streets. Casta Del Sol is a privately owned community, including its streets. Therefore, residents in privately owned communities should make this request to their HOA.

We strongly encourage residents in these communities to express their interest in curb address painting to their HOA representatives, especially if it has been a while since the curbs were last painted.

In the past, youth have painted the numbers on the curbs. They tell the resident they are doing it, and mention it is for a donation, but the service is free. Will a receipt be issued by the curb painter or is it a trust that the donations will make it to the care4the children foundation?

Thank you for your comment on the News page. While this program is financially supported by optional donations, there is no charge for the service.

I do not have a curb, nor do my neighbors because our 'street' is more of an alley with garage doors opening directly onto the street. There is no driveway or apron. Will I be required to have a number painted and, if so, where would they paint the number? Note: each unit is already clearly identified by a lighted number secured to the building.

Residents ~ If you click on the link to the Non-profit, you will see a link where you can make the donation and it gives the Tax ID # that you need for the donation!

A young man knocked on my door askin for dontaions for painting the curb, but he claimed this was for a home bound senior charity. Is this a scam?

I noticed this on Care for the Children web page. Do stations for the communities of Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, Norwalk, Cerritos, Lakewood, La Habra, La Mirada, Fullerton, and Anaheim. No mention on MV.

This non-profit sounds great in theory, but I looked up their recent tax returns and they haven't filed since 2020. Their 990EZ from that year doesn't make a lot of sense (not complete version) and they don't have audited financials or more recent 990 on their website. All non-profits should have audited financials available. I don't mind donating to a charity when the paint my curb, but it would be nice to find a non-profit that has more transparency to show how much of this money is actually helping people.

I, too, researched this "charity". It appears to be more of a front for a business: CFTC Painting ? The 2021 IRS Form 990 shows Revenue of $214,580 with Expenses of $201,915.

Additionally, the charity's website says it is feeding senior citizens. I did not see any indication of a children's charity.

Who in city hall vetted this company? How much money has this charity donated to the Mission Viejo Community Foundation? The City endorsed letter said the charity "will donate a percentage of the proceeds..."

When I reviewed 2021 IRS From 990 for the Mission Viejo Community Foundation, the City charity that supports the Marine adoption committee and other charities, I was STUNNED to see that former employee Kelly Doyle was paid about $16,000 as Executive Director.

Their website states on the first line - "At Care for the Children, our mission is to provide essential food and care to the elderly in need."

So do they care for the children or the elderly? Are they a real charity? Why were they insisting on taking cash only?

‘fueled by optional donations by residents. ‘

Why am I forced to pay for something I had no option to decline?
The young man came back to collect 3 TIMES!!! (As we had no cash on hand) Hardly felt OPTIONAL by an means! People are really struggling these days… hardly the tome to volunTELL people what to do with their livelihood.

I did not like this company harassing and knocking loudly and demanding money. When my husband inquired who the charity is that benefits, he just said senior citizens, but the flyer showed care for children. In my opinion, and for the rest of the street in our neighborhood we were all very disappointed the city would allow this business to come in and demand money, whether given permission to paint or not in the future, it would behoove the city to hire a reputable person, and the money be charged by the city. I will never be paying for curb painting again unless the city is paying for it, and it shows up on my bill. $25 is ridiculous and I realize that is the suggested donation, but this man was very insistent and as a young woman, it scared me. Do better Mission Viejo!!!

Very disappointed by Mission Viejo for allowing this company to harass my pregnant wife for money we don't have. I wish deeply our city hadn't partnered with this front. We are barely able to pay medical bills and keep our home. No, I don't want to have to explain in detail my family situation to get someone to leave my doorstep. Unfortunately, that's just what Mission Viejo forced me to do.

Dear City of Mission Viejo,
Care For The Children is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. I have attached the Documents that prove our charity status. The vision statement of the charity is to provide food, clothing, and shelter to less fortunate families across the U.S. This is what we are currently doing to fulfill our vision. Our Food Baskets for Seniors Program currently feeds a little over 400 homebound senior citizens each month. We are in partnership with the OC Food Bank, and Community Actions Partnerships. We receive 10 pallets of 40 Lb. boxes of dry food that is delivered to our food bank each month from the OC Food Bank. These boxes are in turn given to the homebound seniors on our Food Baskets for Seniors Program. We have permission to sign up another 1,000 seniors to our program. And we are currently adding more seniors to our Food Baskets for Seniors Program.
Care For The Children is in Partnership with Food Finders. Food Finders provides pallets of food of assorted items.
Care For The Children has 5 super markets ( 2 Ralph’s market, Spouts market, El Super market, Superior Market) that we pick up food from each week (6 to 8 pallets of food). We can add more supermarket pickups to provide food as the demand increases. Every Friday we do a food distribution 12pm to 3pm to the community from our food bank. What food that is left over is given to South Whittier church and given out on Saturday. We also have two other locations that we provide food to be given out in their food distribution.
The curb address painting has been the means that has funded the charity to be able to do these good works. In our 990 we list our expenses with the money that comes in. There were no grants of large sums of money that was given to the charity. The $214,580 was the gross amount of money that was raised from the curb address painting. We had done three bid cities that year, the amount that came in was larger than the year before. We have to earn the donations that we receive and that comes with a cost. Labor, Materials, Insurance, is just some of the cost to be able to paint the curb address numbers.
And at the same time, it cost to give out food. Everyone that is apart of the food distribution is paid for what they do. The overhead cost to run the food distribution is between $10,000 and $15,000 per month. I can not go more then a week of not painting curb address numbers because I have to keep money coming in to pay for the food distribution.
The food we get is free, but the storing and distribution of the food cost money. We did a turkey give out for Thanksgiving, and a Toy give out for Christmas that year. We bought items to add to the free turkey’s, the bottom line is that it all cost money. Please feel free to ask if you have any additional questions.
Thanks,
Robert

Last night a woman came to my door at 7:45 pm and literally banged on my door and rang the bell repeatedly FOR 10 MINUTES while yelling about her expected donation. ! I did not answer the door because I was in my pajamas already. She even began peeping through a crack in my blinds! I can promise you this, this outfit will not get a cent from me! Incredibly unprofessional and invasive.

Disappointed at best.

We do not understand how this alleged charitable organization was approved by the city or how they claim to do good when they do is try to intimidate and harass people. This guy came by as I was heading out. He said he worked with the CITY and was collecting money for charity. I asked for identification proving who he was or what he represented outside of wearing an orange vest, but he was unable to provide anything, so I left.

The same guy returned over the weekend ringing the doorbell repeatedly, pounding on the door, and literally yelling from the street demanding money, screaming "Pay up it is for the Children, pay up." I do not understand how the city would allow such a partnership. It is one thing to advocate and support a charitable foundation, but it is another to harass and intimidate people.

Very disappointed the city would allow this this. I hope our city realizes what a mistake it was to hire a company of such poor character without doing the background as I am sure we are not the first neighborhood to be targeted. To coin what was said earlier, do better Mission Viejo!!!

I don't care for being forced to make a "donation" to a charity that seems questionable and I have no recourse to opt out of. Also, sending people door to door in this day and age with methods to pay online seems rather invasive. I've had 3 representatives come to the door, and I've put notes out to not be disturbed. There is no online option to opt out our address and there should be. There are no dates when the painting will occur etc. The planning on this program is quite poor. I hope the City Of MV does not do this event again; my question is how is there no money for the curb painting per the city official that signed the letter which seems like it should be included in property taxes, but the city took liberty with our funds to do a Rose Parade float a number of years ago. Makes no sense in properly spending our money.

A year later and my curb numbers were never painted. Was this a scam?!?! Is there any investigation into this?