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Brenda Berg and Armando Gonzalez Providing significant community benefits
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Brenda Berg and Armando Gonzalez
Providing significant community benefits.
Brenda Berg and Armando Gonzalez, FAIA, want everyone in our community to have access to world-class health care. “We see health care as fundamental to a productive and fulfilling life,” Brenda says. “People shouldn’t have to worry about seeing a doctor or seeking preventative medical care because of financial constraints.”
Driven by this commitment, the couple recently provided a generous gift toward Huntington Hospital’s community outreach programs. Specifically, their support will help provide vital health services for otherwise underserved community residents. These services — offered at locations across Pasadena — include health examinations, health-related counseling, referrals for additional and ongoing medical care, and assistance in obtaining health coverage as needed.
Thoughtful giving.
Armando and Brenda are making their most recent gift to us via disbursements from their retirement savings account. This approach can provide attractive benefits to the donor as well as to the chosen cause. (See page 38 for more information.)
“If we withdrew these funds from the account ourselves, we’d have to declare it as income and pay the related taxes,” Armando explains. “Giving it to the hospital directly means we maximize the benefit, helping to provide more important services to our community.”
The gift from Brenda and Armando will help improve the health of hundreds of vulnerable individuals in our community over the next five years.
Ruth Pichaj, RN, manager of community outreach and benefits, measures a patient’s blood pressure. Preventative health screenings such as this are among the many community outreach services we offer thanks to generous donor support.
Architects of improvement.
In addition to providing long-term philanthropic support to the hospital, Armando is a member of our board of directors (currently serving as vice chair) and a lifetime trustee. He also serves on our Philanthropy, Building and Facilities, Compensation, Finance and Investment, and Governance committees. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, he moved to California with his family at age 5. After graduating from Loyola High School, he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Southern California and, in 1980, founded Gonzalez Goodale Architects (now GGA Architects) in Pasadena. He retired in 2014, subsequently becoming a consultant to the firm.
Brenda grew up in Seattle, after her family moved from the Midwest to the West Coast. She had a successful career with Girl Scouts of the USA, serving as chief executive officer of the Mount Wilson Vista Council (now part of the Los Angeles Council) prior to her retirement in 2008.
More recently, Armando and Brenda established Berg Gonzalez Consulting, which leverages their combined experience in nonprofit governance, nonprofit management, architecture and project design. One of their current projects involves a nonprofit start-up, created in collaboration with GGA Architects. The nonprofit organization, Community Design Group, will provide multidisciplinary assistance to worthy community improvement projects, with a significant focus on addressing the crisis of homelessness.
“There’s a strong need for the kind of preventative care and community wellness services provided through the hospital’s community outreach programs.”
Key to our mission.
Brenda and Armando’s leisure activities include spending time with family, traveling and pursuing a rather vigorous exercise and wellness program. In addition, community involvement remains a priority. Both have served on boards and committees for a variety of organizations, with a focus on housing and education as well as health care. They are also involved in efforts to develop next-generation leaders in our region.
The couple views the hospital’s community outreach as key to our mission of care — and an important means of enhancing life for vulnerable local residents. “For us, it’s self-evident that when you help people stay healthy, you’re also supporting economic development,” Brenda notes. Simply put, “When people get the care they need, they can also keep their jobs.”
“For many years,” Armando adds, “the hospital has provided a high quality of care with really great physicians and really great nursing staff, and that has to keep happening of course. We also believe there’s a strong need for the kind of preventative care and community wellness services provided through the hospital’s community outreach programs, and we want to help make these services even stronger and more widely available.”
