7th Annual Gala:

Shake, Rattle & Roll at the Bowl

Chuck made his first venture into what would become a lifelong career when he made his first real estate investment with his brother Roger, in 1959 while still attending John Burroughs High School

Throughout the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and into the new millennium, Chuck and the Cusumano Real Estate Group continued to grow their real estate business and expand their support of community groups and causes. Over that time the Cusumano Real Estate Group has grown to become one of the largest privately held property owners in the region, with property owned throughout southern California, from San Diego to Ventura, which has included dozens of prominent projects within the City of Burbank.

Throughout their existence in Burbank, Chuck has not only been an active member of the business community but has been an active member of the philanthropic and service community. From the 1960’s Chuck was active in the Burbank Jaycees, and for many years hosted the annual March of Dimes Western Fundraising Gala at his Toluca Lake home. Chuck has been a major benefactor of the Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center, having contributed to, among other things, the Cusumano Family Neuroscience Outpatient Center at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center and the Cusumano Family Radiation Oncology Department at the Providence St. Joseph’s/Disney Cancer Center, and the Cusumano Family Urgent Care Center at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center which will open this fall. The Family was the lead donor for the Family Services Agency building, and the largest donor for the campaign to rebuild Memorial Field at Chuck’s alma mater, John Burroughs High School. Earlier this year, Chuck made another commitment to the youth of this community by providing a major gift to fund the new Downtown Burbank Boys and Girls Club.

The Cusumano family has been a wonderful partner of Family Promise of the Verdugos throughout our 10 years of service to the community. It was the inspirational messages from the Cusumano family that motivated and helped guide us on the track to success. They helped kick start the relaunch of Family Promise in 2015 with a $25,000 donation from the Cusumano Family Foundation. Since then our organization has continued to head in the right direction with fundraising, organizational structure and trust from the community. In addition, the Cusumano family has helped support many of our homeless families by approving families to move into their apartment communities. Throughout the past six years the family has provided sponsorships, many of which at the highest sponsorship level, for all our major events and invested in their own employees to serve on our boards and committees. For all this and more we thank the visionary and patriarch of the Cusumano family, Charles “Chuck” Cusumano.

Past IMPACT Award honorees include Senator Anthony Portantino,
Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, Nickelodeon Animation Studios and
Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital.

Announcing the 2021 Honorees

Marsha Ramos

This years Hands On, Hearts In Award will be presented to Patrick & Laurie Patterson. Since gearing up to open Family Promise in 2008, Patrick "Pat" and Laurie have been faithful partners of the organization through their business (Patterson Graphics), church (Burbank First United Methodist Church) and self.

Laurie and Pat met at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, in 1965, and were married in April 1969. After buying their first home and modernizing it as much as they could, they started their family with the birth of their first daughter in February 1976, and started their business later that same year. Their second daughter arrived in March 1979, completing their family. Being life-long Burbank residents, with family roots in town going back to 1936, they both felt a strong sense of community, and felt blessed being able to live here, and send their kids to Burbank schools.

Pat & Laurie started trying to put a little back by getting involved in the schools their daughters attended, starting with Edison Elementary. They saw a need for craft materials in the classrooms, and provided off-cuts of paper from their printing business, which grew into providing printed materials that helped foster school spirit and identity. When their girls graduated from Burroughs, much of their involvement moved to church and community organizations such as Rotary, BTAC and Family Promise.

Pat and Laurie share their "Family Promise Moment" - Helping out one evening at First UMC, we experienced first hand the incredible value of Family Promise in our community. During the dinner portion of the church hosting, we noticed a mother and teen aged girl, getting ready to ‘camp’ for the evening in a corner of the office buildings. We invited them to join the families for a hot meal, which led to them becoming Family Promise clients. Within a very short period of time, the mom had a job, the daughter was enrolled in school, and they were back on their feet again. We are very blessed to be able to provide some measure of assistance to organizations like Family Promise, who are such an asset to our community.

Past Hands On, Hearts In Honorees include: Howard Fallman & Nancy Kachline,
Jennifer Greene-Smith, Sandra Thompson & Marsha Ramos