{"id":3809,"date":"2016-02-25T17:32:32","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T17:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zinggg.com\/love4life\/?page_id=3809"},"modified":"2016-02-27T23:41:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-27T23:41:58","slug":"press","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/?page_id=3809","title":{"rendered":"Press"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"asset-masthead\">\n<header class=\"asset-header\">\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">IN THE NEWS<\/h1>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">P.S. I Love You spreads power of empathy<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"meta\">\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li>Alana Garrigues<\/li>\n<li><time class=\"asset-date text-muted\" datetime=\"2016-02-11T11:19:00-08:00\">Feb 11, 2016<\/time><\/li>\n<li class=\"hidden-print\"><a class=\"cm\" href=\"http:\/\/tbrnews.com\/news\/manhattan_beach\/p-s-i-love-you-spreads-power-of-empathy\/article_69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066.html#comments\"> (<span class=\"fb-comments-count\" data-href=\"http:\/\/tbrnews.com\/tncms\/asset\/editorial\/69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066\/\"><span class=\"fb_comments_count\">1<\/span><\/span>)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"share-container headline-right pull-right hidden-xs\" data-subscription-required-remove=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"main-content col-lg-8 col-md-7\">\n<div id=\"asset-photo-carousel\">\n<div id=\"carousel-69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066\" class=\"card photo-carousel single-photo subscriber-hide\">\n<div class=\"photo-carousel-control-container\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"gallery-items-69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066\" class=\"carousel-inner owl-carousel owl-theme owl-loaded\">\n<div class=\"owl-stage-outer owl-height\">\n<div class=\"owl-stage\">\n<div class=\"owl-item active\">\n<div class=\"item photo-b8edd98c-d0f4-11e5-b75f-db5f98db5a83\">\n<div class=\"item-container\">\n<div class=\"photo-container layout-horizontal\" data-track-object=\"{&quot;title&quot;:&quot;P.S. I Love You spreads power of empathy&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;\/news\/manhattan_beach\/p-s-i-love-you-spreads-power-of-empathy\/article_69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066.html&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066&quot;,&quot;app&quot;:&quot;editorial&quot;,&quot;metric&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-count=\"1\">\n<p><a class=\"hover-expand\" href=\"http:\/\/tbrnews.com\/content\/tncms\/live\/#1\" data-photo-target=\".photo-b8edd98c-d0f4-11e5-b75f-db5f98db5a83\" data-instance=\"#gallery-items-69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066-photo-modal\" data-target=\"#photo-carousel-69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive owl-lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/tbrnews.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/b\/8e\/b8edd98c-d0f4-11e5-b75f-db5f98db5a83\/56bce41116106.image.jpg\" alt=\"P.S. I Love You Foundation\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/tbrnews.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/b\/8e\/b8edd98c-d0f4-11e5-b75f-db5f98db5a83\/56bce41116106.image.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<div class=\"caption-inner-69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066 collapse in\">\n<div class=\"actions pull-right\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-meta\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption-text\">\n<p>Patricia Jones (right), founder of the P.S. I Love You Foundation, instructs Emely (left) and Araceli (center), two eighth-grade students at St Lawrence of Brindisi School, to repeat the mantra of the Love 4 Life program. photo by Gil Castro<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"owl-controls\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"asset-content\" data-asset-uuid=\"69d268ae-d0f4-11e5-a82d-f31e86bf7066\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12\" data-subscription-required-class=\"col-xs-12\">\n<div class=\"asset-body\" data-subscription-required-class=\"asset-body\">\n<div class=\"share-container content-above\" data-subscription-required-remove=\"\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"asset-content subscriber-premium\">\n<p>Manhattan Beach resident Patricia Jones has changed thousands of lives for the better. But she wouldn\u2019t be one to take credit for it. Instead, she\u2019d humbly say there are men and women doing good around the world every day. Then she\u2019d point to the school principals, mentors, board members and children whom she works. They are the true heroes, the ones who do the work.<\/p>\n<p>What she would say is true\u2014and yet, it\u2019s not. There are people who do good every day, and her volunteers and students put in a lot of work. But to give credit where credit is due, their lives are transformed thanks to her vision.<\/p>\n<p>Eighteen years ago, Jones founded the P.S. I Love You foundation, born out of several ways that she\u2019d seen love to change lives. The name comes from a simple way her mom showed her love every day growing up, with a note of \u201cP.S. I love you\u201d on her school lunch bag.<\/p>\n<p>Jones was inspired by her mother\u2019s daily actions and her sister\u2019s commitment to impoverished people in Haiti, so strong that she moved to the island nation years ago. Jones is also driven by the love of a stranger she met\u2014a great-grandmother who quit her job to care for her five great-grandchildren while their mom and grandma were in prison. These were all little acts and big heroes blazing a path through Jones\u2019 heart, until she realized what she needed to do. Jones needed to teach the world about compassion and love, and she needed to do it through children.<\/p>\n<p>Today, P.S. I Love You is a multifaceted organization that shows children compassion, responsibility, empathy, self-awareness and strength through a concept and a lens of love and acceptance, through conversation, yoga, volleyball and a day at the beach.<\/p>\n<p>The core of her program is a class supported by Title I funds. Jones trains volunteers to teach 18-week programs in inner city South Bay schools, one hour a week, working with children identified as high risk by teachers and counselors. These are kids who are growing up around gangs and violence. She wants to show them that there\u2019s a way out. They always have a choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBuilding camaraderie and the ability to share and to understand that if I feel lonely, and that cool kid feels lonely too, then there\u2019s nothing wrong with me,\u201d said Jones, talking about how she trains the children to understand what\u2019s wrong, and how to fix it. \u201cIf I don\u2019t feel smart, what do I do to feel smart? If I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m connected, what to do to feel connected? When I wake up in the morning and I\u2019m outside my happiness circle, how do I get back in?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Students learn a mantra that they repeat every day, reaffirming their self-worth and impact on the world around them.<\/p>\n<p>Retired Manhattan Beach resident Mark Lipps is one of the P.S. I Love You teachers. He volunteers at Hawthorne Middle School bright and early every\u00a0Monday\u00a0morning, working with seventh-graders. Lipps was looking for a way to give back to the community in the post-work phase of his life, and recalled an early love for teaching and coaching. He signed up as a school substitute, but found the meaning behind education with P.S. I Love You \u2014 that draw he felt to make a difference and share some wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people who want to go into teaching, this is the reason they do it, because they think they can give back to these kids and make them whole individuals going forward,\u201d said Lipps. \u201cOne of these areas that we\u2019re really lacking is outside of academics, teaching kids to feel good about themselves, and how to achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His classroom, like all P.S. I Love You classrooms, is a judgment free zone. Kids are taught alternatives to fight or flight; they\u2019re taught to work through problems and face them head on. Bullying, teasing and feelings of isolation are brought out into the open, and the students examine serious moral questions through open, honest, accepting conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf someone\u2019s teasing or bullying, we\u2019ll call them out on it,\u201d said Lipps. \u201cWe\u2019ll root it out. We\u2019ll deal with conflict management. We\u2019ll teach them how to deal with conflict management. You know that stuff\u2019s happening on the playground, so how do you deal with it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s seen how the kids change. In the first weeks, they show up to class tired, and sometimes a little unengaged. But as time moves forward, they learn that it is OK to speak up and to shed their masks. They say how they are feeling and share joys, gratitude, frustration and fear.<\/p>\n<p>Violence among students who participate in the program is down, according to reports that Jones receives from school principals. Lipps has seen friendships form in his class, and he\u2019s seen the de-escalation skills he teaches used by students in the hallways and on the playground. It\u2019s empathetic education that works, and something that the academic instructors tell volunteers they are thankful for. The wonderful thing is, anyone can be trained to be a leader of a class. Jones looks for instructors who want to make a difference in kids\u2019 lives, and then she trains them on the 18-week module, including mirroring and shadowing a current volunteer.<\/p>\n<p>Lipps, who started teaching at the beginning of this school year, is the only male instructor that P.S. I Love You has, but they are looking for more.<\/p>\n<p>Board member Kathleen Terry-Manna helps Jones recruit volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYoung boys need men to model,\u201d said Terry-Manna. \u201cMen, get involved. This is not just a female thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said that there are plenty of volunteer opportunities in and out of the classroom for men and women, from the annual beach day to volunteer work that can be done from home. The foundation always needs people willing to donate time or money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf (readers) want to help at-risk kids and they\u2019re interested in social emotional learning, it\u2019s an ideal place for looking for ways that they can be involved,\u201d said Terry-Manna. \u201cOnce they\u2019ve gone to the website, I always like people to contact me because then I can really customize an opportunity that really fits their time and their talents and their availability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As P.S. I Love You looks toward the future, Jones would like to reach even more children, not only in the inner city schools. She can see the value of empathy training for students from all walks of life, and she\u2019s hoping to pilot an after-school program in Manhattan Beach this year.<\/p>\n<p>Jones and the P.S. I Love You board are also considering whether to develop a curriculum that can be sold to schools outside of Los Angeles and taught by classroom teachers, as a way to expand the program\u2019s reach. It\u2019s exciting to imagine the opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Some days, Jones admitted that it is hard to run a foundation. There are times she feels like she should go find work full-time to provide for her family. But then she remembers why she does this.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming,\u201d said Jones. \u201cIt feels like a big responsibility. Every time I want to give up \u2026 I realize these kids are going to be standing next to my kids. It\u2019s really overwhelming. It\u2019s really awesome that the people who\u2019ve been involved really see the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that brings her focus right back to the nonprofit, the donors, the principals and volunteers who know how important the work is.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about P.S. I Love You, or to donate or volunteer, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.psiloveyoufoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">psiloveyoufoundation.org<\/a>\u00a0or call Terry-Manna at\u00a0<a href=\"tel:%28310%29-545-4046\" target=\"_blank\">(310) 545-4046<\/a>. Jones can be reached at\u00a0<a href=\"tel:%28310%29420-4717\" target=\"_blank\">(310) 420-4717<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IN THE NEWS P.S. I Love You spreads power of empathy Alana Garrigues Feb 11, 2016 (1) Patricia Jones (right), founder of the P.S. I Love You Foundation, instructs Emely&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/love4life.life\/?page_id=3809\" class=\"gdlr-button with-border excerpt-read-more\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3809","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3869,"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3809\/revisions\/3869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/love4life.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}