Kathleen Duncan-Luten thinks back to the essence of the mission for the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation – her grandparents’ non-profit organization started in 1952. It focused on a deep commitment to the values and generosity of helping others in need.

The values ring as true to her now as they did when she first started attending those foundation board meetings, making decisions how to continue paying it forward with the family’s endowments.

Kenny Lund can only explain that it’s been “divine intervention” how his entire family has come to embrace ownership of the Saint Edward Retreat Center and Camp Lolek in Wrightwood over the last two years.

Some 7,000 feet up in the San Gabriel Mountains, the tranquil 215-acre spot may feel as close to heaven on Earth as Lund could image. Now he and his family plan to share it with thousands of soul-searching Catholics, young and old, for years to come.

From the perspective of more than 40 years in the investment business sector, Peter Nolan’s appraisal of Catholic education is to back it with as many resources as possible. In return, there is a payoff for everyone involved.

“My professional training as an investor is to look for undervalued areas,” says Nolan, who heads Nolan Capital Inc. in Hermosa Beach. “One of the greatest undervalued social assets in the country is Catholic education because it delivers an incredibly superior product at a better cost and a

Stay in Tom Romano’s circle long enough and the chances are pretty decent you’ll see a church being built around him.

First, he’ll tell you the story of his baptism in 1950 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Arcadia. The church was under construction, and Mountain View Dairy Farm was adjacent to the construction site. They would clear the barn and set up chairs every Sunday for Mass. There’s a photograph of Tom receiving the sacrament of Baptism with cows in the background.