Events
Adopt-A-Family
The holidays can be a challenging time financially for many families, especially those we serve. Some are headed by single parents or are multi-generational households. Others may be survivors of domestic or community violence, navigating treatment for mental health conditions, or coping with the loss of a loved one. Each is working tirelessly year-round to make ends meet and create stability for their families.
Every winter, our Adopt-A-Family donors bring incredible joy and relief to these families, offering not only gifts and essentials for the season but also hope for the year ahead. We are deeply inspired by their compassion and so grateful for their generosity.
Long Beach Gives
The Guidance Center participates in an annual citywide crowdfunding campaign every September known as Long Beach Gives. This campaign brings together over 270 nonprofits in Long Beach to fundraise for important causes in our community. We are dedicated to continuing the impact we make in the lives of the many children and families we serve.
For Long Beach Gives 2025, we raised nearly $60,000 towards programs and services for our new Family Resource Center. This was all made possible thanks to our generous corporate sponsors ( The Friese Foundation, and Tyler Construction Services), dedicated board members, passionate community partners, and campaign supporters.
Sunset Sip
Each year, during Mental Health Month, friends and supporters of The Guidance Center come together in the spring to raise funds to support critical mental health services for our community’s most vulnerable children and families at our Sunset Sip benefit. When you participate in our Sunset Sip festivities, you support our communities’ early intervention and prevention programs.
This year was such a special event, with The Guidance Center breaking our yearly record for funds raised to support children’s mental health. Check out our Tribute Book below to view event highlights, tribute messages, and our total of funds raised.
Save the Date – Sunset Sip 2026!
Saturday, May 2, 2026 at Hotel Maya, Long Beach
The Tim Sailor Legacy Award is presented annually to community members who embody the spirit of service and commitment demonstrated by our late board member, Tim Sailor. This special honor recognizes individuals who have made a lasting impact and continue Tim’s legacy of compassion and leadership in advancing mental health for all.
In 2025, Nancy and Bob Foster were recognized as the inaugural recipients of this meaningful award for their remarkable investment in children’s mental health and their dedication to creating positive change across our community.
📰 Press Feature: “Fosters get well-deserved honor for mental health advocacy” – Press-Telegram
Recap of our 9th Annual Sunset Sip:
On the evening of Saturday, September 14th, 2019, The Guidance Center hosted our 9th Annual Sunset Sip: Hope Takes Flight, at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach, Calif. We invited the community to uplift and celebrate hope with us and what a wonderful evening it was!
More than 180 people attended and helped raise more than $175,000, exceeding funds raised in previous years. Sponsors and guests’ generous support at this annual benefit ensures that we will continue to provide critical mental health services to our community’s disadvantaged children and families.
We thank everyone who attended the event as we unleashed our superpowers together. Your support helps create a community where our children will recognize their own superpowers so they can lead happy and healthy lives.
Make sure to check out our Sunset Sip 2019 Digital Tribute Book for event highlights, photos, sponsor messages, and more! Also take a look at our Event Recap and check out more event photos on our Facebook.
When you participate in our Sunset Sip festivities, you support our early intervention and prevention programs in our communities:
- It’s About T.I.M.E. (Trauma-Informed Movement in Education) is a first-of-its-kind for Long Beach Unified School District training program, based on Child Trauma Academy’s Neurosequential Model in Education, where we equip educators with tools to understand and help their students who are experiencing negative impacts of trauma.
- Collaborative Care Initiative brings together mental health professionals from The Guidance Center and medical professionals from Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital to increase their knowledge and skills of one another’s scope of work with the goal of improving the lives of children by treating the “whole child” in their respective treatment plans.
- Mental Health First Aid – is a public education program on the importance of early intervention for adults and youth in the community. The 8-hour training session empowers participants with the understanding of unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems and provides a 5-step action plan that participants can follow to help someone in crisis. Two Guidance Center staff are certificated in this training program and host a number of sessions throughout the year. New training dates coming in 2019.
Recap of Social Hour 2019
Thank you so much to everyone who supported our 3rd Annual Social Hour at Liberation Brewing Co. on May 16th! We were happy to see our friends and the community for a fun, trauma-informed evening.
By attending the event, being a sponsor, or donating, you made a great impact and helped us raise a total of $8,711 for our It’s About T.I.M.E. program’s expansion in Long Beach schools! This surpasses the amount raised last year and exceeds our goal for this year, all because of your incredible support.
You can continue the important conversation of the Trauma-Informed Movement in Education. Read and share our blog posts on the movement and spread the word!