Each month, Helping Hands features a mortgage professional or group that has volunteered to lend a hand to others in need

Jennifer Landree

As published in Scotsman Guide's Commercial Edition, November 2008.

Name Craig Grella, owner, Cornerstone Funding Services

Project Fundraising for No Limits Theater Group Inc.

Site Los Angeles

How Since 2001, Grella has been a board member for No Limits, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that sponsors nationwide after-school theater programs and Los Angeles-area speech therapy for deaf and partially deaf children from low-income families.

Grella and Cornerstone Funding Services also donate to No Limits in multiple ways. Every year, Grella and three other employees set up a Cornerstone team Web page to solicit donations for No Limits' annual walkathon; the fourth-annual event took place Oct. 18 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Cornerstone hoped to raise $1,000 for it this year, as of press time. A No Limits corporate sponsor, Cornerstone has donated an additional $1,000 to No Limits this year.

Grella went a step further: After he sold his personal motorcycle this past December, he donated his profits to No Limits.

Why Executive Director and Founder Michelle Christie-Adams asked Grella to join the executive board seven years ago because of his connections in Los Angeles. As he spent time in the classroom with children, Grella says he "got to see firsthand the good that [No Limits was] doing in the community."

No Limits' program helps children develop communication and confidence, Christie-Adams says. Speech therapy, which can be costly, also is out of reach of many low-income families, she says.

Impact Since it started in 1996, No Limits has helped more than 1,000 children through its theater and after-school programs, Christie-Adams says.

The No Limits walkathon also raised $162,000 in 2007, Christie-Adams says.

Try it nolimitsspeaksout.com

Jennifer Landree is a Seattle-area writer and former Scotsman Guide editorial intern. For questions or comments, e-mail articles@scotsmanguide.com.

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