2021 Spring Celebration

May 6, 2021

AMCS Raises NEARLY $250,000 at Spring Celebration

to Support Community Mental Health

Community mental health supporters rallied virtually on May 6 to raise nearly a quarter of a million dollars to support Airport Marina Counseling Service (AMCS) efforts to deliver low-cost community mental health services and train new therapists at the organizations 17th annual "Spring into Well-Being” Celebration.

The event celebrated AMCS’s Champion of Mental Health, Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital – which has been instrumental in helping AMCS become an indispensable part of the county’s mental health care safety net.

“We are so excited that the community recognizes the important role AMCS plays in making sure everyone has access to mental health services," said AMCS CEO Eden Garcia-Balis. “We were excited to honor Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital and Joanne Laguna-Kennedy, who accepted the award on behalf of the hospital, for all they have done to help the clinic improve and enhance the mental health services we provide to the community.”

The virtual event, emceed by retired NBC4 Weathercaster Fritz Coleman, attracted 100 key local community and business leaders, including Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, and raised more than $240,000 to continue to support the clinic’s mission to provide affordable, community-based mental health services and to support the training of more than 60 mental health therapists each year.

AMCS is a nonprofit, community-based mental health clinic that has been serving the greater LAX region since 1961. From its opening in 1961 to now, AMCS has continued to grow and expand it programs and services. Today, the Clinic serves hundreds of individuals, children and families and couples weekly, and its services are provided on a sliding-scale basis.

As affordable mental health resources become more difficult to find, more people living further away from AMCS depend upon its services. Though the Clinic has no geographical boundaries, AMCS currently serves the greater LAX area including Westchester, El Segundo, Culver City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey and Venice, Santa Monica, Torrance, South Los Angeles and extended areas of Los Angeles County. AMCS offers comprehensive therapeutic services to individuals, children and families, couples and older adults, many of whom would otherwise have little access to counseling.  Open seven days a week, Airport Marina Counseling Service provides an array of successful programs, both at the Clinic and off-site, to meet the needs of people of all ages.