Dr. Riba's Health Club (www.drribashealthclub.org)

DrRHC was founded in 2002 as a pilot program of the Children and Families Commission of Orange County to help address the prevalence of obesity and related health conditions in young children. Today, DrRHC is an independent project, fiscally sponsored by OneOC, targeting low-income areas in Orange County where childhood obesity is a serious concern. With our clinic centrally located in Santa Ana, and additional offerings at community partner sites throughout Orange County including Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Orange, and Mission Viejo, DrRHC enables easy access for low-income families. DrRHC addresses not only the physical causes of childhood obesity, but also its psychological and socioeconomic factors, through the following programs:

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• Health Club treats the most severe cases of obesity and “Failure to Thrive” by connecting each child with highly trained staff who address the root causes of obesity, rather than just the symptoms. 
• PC-FitTM (Parent-Child Feeding Interaction Therapy) treats dysfunctional feeding-dynamic issues within families through a live-coaching intervention. Over multiple sessions of simulated family meal time, staff coaches parent-child interactions to create a positive dynamic for the entire family. 
• Fit Club™ is a year-round after-school program that integrates physical activity, nutrition education, and healthy cooking classes for youth ages 4-18 who have continued to gain weight even while receiving treatment. 
• Educational Programs: DrRHC offers health and nutrition classes for parents of young children. Dr. Riba herself also conducts training for providers regarding weight management issues.

Through these programs, we serve nearly 3,000 children and families annually, helping children stop the increase of excessive weight gain, decrease their Body Mass Index (BMI), and increase physical fitness; improving family feeding dynamics; and teaching children, families, and providers about nutrition and health issues.

Vision: 

Children and families feeding well, feeling well, living well.

Mission:

To promote healthy lifestyles in children, families, and communities by addressing medical, nutritional, social, economic and behavioral issues in a comprehensive, compassionate, and empowering manner.

Bio of Dr. Riba: 

Dr. Patricia Riba is the founder and Medical Director for Dr. Riba's Health Club (DrRHC), a community-based organization designed to prevent and treat nutrition-related health problems in children aged 0 to 5 years and their families. DrRHC offers a variety of programs and services at multiple sites throughout Orange County. Dr. Riba and her multidisciplinary team reach over 2,800 underserved families through individualized patient care plans, community and provider education and training, school-based programs, and Parent-Child Feeding Interaction Therapy. Dr. Riba attended Boston University School of Medicine and completed her residency in general pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Orange County.

Prior to her current position, Dr. Riba worked as a Pediatrician for Orangewood/Juvenal Hall, Doctors of Children in Irvine, CCHC/AltaMed in Huntington Beach, and as an obesity consultant for the Latino Health Access Obesity Program. In 2008, Dr. Riba received the "Healthy Smiles: Hero of Oral Health Award." She was also recently honored as an "Agent of Change" by the Children & Families Commission of Orange County and received an "Excellence in Philanthropy Award" from the Orange County Community Foundation. Most recently, Dr. Riba received CalOptima’s Circle of Care Award in August 2012. Her work has been featured in the Orange County Register and the Huntington Beach Wave. In addition, she has appeared on KDOC and KOCE as a childhood obesity expert.

Dr. Riba's program is increasingly being recognized throughout Orange County as a promising approach to nutrition-related disorders including diabetes prevention, obesity, Failure to Thrive, and feeding dynamic issues in children 0-5 years of age.

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Giving Children Hope is privileged to work with diverse individuals and communities both locally and around the world, supplying projects that address and focus on the needs of children and serve the poor.

GCHope works to promote family sustainability, economic independence, and self-sufficiency so that children may grow in stable environments. GCHope also plays a role in the development and rehabilitation of under resourced clinics, hospitals, and orphanages. Our supplies mobilize organizations so that they can focus on implementation; this empowers communities to reach those caught in hopelessness and work towards self-sustainability.

GCHope is grassroots driven. While we work with many large organizations, the majority of our partners are working in a single community to enable that community to receive what it needs most. We connect indigenous community leaders in need of resources with grassroots efforts around the world to secure and deliver needed supplies.

GCHope is a green organization, taking supplies and equipment that would often end up in the land-fill and redeeming it for use in domestic free-clinics and developing countries around the world.

As a faith-based organization GCHope started to help get the Church outside of its doors into the community to BE the Church and serve those in need. Working with the diverse Christian community to enable them to be the hands and feet of Jesus is an important component to our work.

Bio of John Ditty:

John Ditty is the Founder & Chairman of Giving Children Hope. John was born and raised in California. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Fullerton Junior College. He spent time in the U.S. Air Force as a precision measuring and equipment specialist before returning to school to earn a degree and a teaching credential in Industrial Arts from Humboldt State University. He also acquired an electrical contractor’s license and started his own business. John has four children, three of whom he adopted internationally.

As John underwent the process of adopting his children, he was deeply affected by the poor treatment of children in orphanages. After adopting his fourth child from Russia in 1992, he became active in the distribution of humanitarian aid and founded Global Operations and Development/Giving Children Hope. John began the organization’s first projects with his own money, using his garage as a distribution center. It has grown to produce and distribute $30 million worth of aid out of a 43,000 square ft. facility.

“God birthed this place, and God has grown it,” says John of the organization’s success. “It has all been a miracle. It is exciting to see what He is going to do next.”

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The Joyful Child Foundation - In Memory of Samantha Runnion, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse and abduction through programs that unite and uplift communities.   Samantha was a beautiful, bright, joyful little girl whose life was cut short as the youngest victim of the “summer of abductions” in July 2002.    The Joyful Child provides prevention education to children, parents, and teaching staff.  For the children, The Joyful Child has developed a K-12 safety empowerment program that supplements Physical Education and Health curricula, as well as ninety-minute personal safety workshops for children of all ages.  For adults, The Joyful Child provides one-hour presentations on Preventing Child Abduction and Recognizing Predatory Behaviors.  The goal of the organization is to bring personal safety education to every child in America.  Together, we can stop crimes against children.

Bio of Erin Runnion

Founder, The Joyful Child Foundation - In Memory of Samantha Runnion, (TJCF). Erin is dedicated to ensuring Samantha’s tragic death continue to be a catalyst to engage others in our collective responsibility in protecting our nation’s children.  Honors include A Certificate of Valor from The Department of Justice, People Magazine’s 2004 Heroes Among Us Award and commendations from the California State Assembly and the Orange and Los Angeles County Boards of Supervisors.  Prior to Samantha’s abduction, Erin was a supervising location accountant for Air BP, the jet-fuel division of BP (Beyond Petroleum).  Erin was a member of BP’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, a program that includes a mentor and outreach plan to recruit and advance people of diverse backgrounds. Erin holds a bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where she received a Presidential Academic Scholarship to study cultural anthropology and conflict resolution.

Erin resides in Orange County, California with her mother, Virginia Runnion, her husband and Joyful Child Co-Founder, Kenneth Donnelly, and their three children, Paige, Conner and Rose.  The Joyful Child Foundation has helped Erin transform her grief into compassionate action by honoring Samantha so that we may build a safer world where not one more child is victimized.

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