Producer Chuck Lorre’s Family Foundation donated the single largest sum on record
By Dolores Quintana
Venice Family Clinic announced last week that it is modernizing its clinic site at 604 Rose Avenue in Venice, thanks to a $7 million donation from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. The renovation will enable the Clinic to integrate medical, mental health and substance use visits in ways it couldn’t before.
The foundation’s gift is the largest single donation received by the Venice Family Clinic and continues Mr. Lorre’s long-time generosity to the Clinic. He and his family foundation have contributed more than $17 million to the Clinic over the past 20 years.
“The renovation of our Rose Avenue site is a critical project ensuring that we can provide greater access to health care for our community members who are most vulnerable,” said Venice Family Clinic CEO Elizabeth Benson Forer. “Our patients face complex health challenges, and it is vital that we are able to provide them with a space where they can get multiple services in an integrated way. We are grateful that The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation shares our vision.”
Venice Family Clinic acquired the building as its first permanent site in 1983. In November 2021, Venice Family Clinic merged with South Bay Family Health Care. The clinic at 604 Rose Avenue is one of 17 sites in the Clinic’s expanded care network. Programs and services at the Rose Avenue site include primary medical care for adults and children, behavioral health, substance use services, vision services, a pharmacy, COVID-19 testing and vaccines, food distribution and health education.
The modernization of the two-story building will allow the Clinic to meet the emerging and evolving needs in health care. The plan features new team spaces for Clinic staff to more effectively collaborate on all aspects of a patient’s complete care plan. The site will provide patients with easier access to services, including a ground floor pharmacy, and a community room for fitness classes and counseling groups. The site will also have counseling rooms for visits with mental health therapists, case managers and health educators.
Venice Family Clinic is the primary source of health care on the Westside for people experiencing homelessness, and the renovation will provide improved space for case management, behavioral health, substance use services and showers.
Mr. Lorre, an award-winning creator and producer of many of the most successful comedy series in modern television history, including The Big Bang Theory and The Kominsky Method, is a longtime supporter of the Clinic. He and his Family Foundation have made donations over the past 20 years to fund the renovations and operations of another clinical site in Venice, the Robert Levine Family Health Center, which is named in honor of Mr. Lorre’s father. In 2020, Mr. Lorre provided a special $1 million gift in honor of Venice Family Clinic’s 50th anniversary and to rally other contributions to support COVID-19 response efforts early in the pandemic.
“Quality health care, provided with compassion and dignity, has been the operating principle of Venice Family Clinic since its inception. For that reason, I am honored to play a part in the renovation efforts for the iconic Rose Avenue site, and confident that the Clinic will continue to be an oasis of hope for generations to come,” said Mr. Lorre.
Venice Family Clinic recently introduced a fundraising initiative called “The Power of Us” to demonstrate the collective contributions of funders to help advance greater health equity. Gifts to the initiative, like The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, will fund the Clinic’s innovative programs and services in its newly expanded service area with a focus on addressing solutions in six areas: achieving health equity, building mental health access, controlling pandemics and epidemics, defeating homelessness, ending hunger and fighting for our children.
To learn more about the Power of Us initiative, please visit venicefamilyclinic.org/powerofus
