Michael Pad­u­ano has been a Win­der­mere agent for eight years and is also the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Well­ness Foun­da­tion Palm Springs (WFPS). WFPS was founded in 2009 to help sup­port already estab­lished non-profits.

In sup­port of the teens at Safe­House of the Desert, Pad­u­ano recently orga­nized an out­ing and a guided tour of The Liv­ing Desert, along with lunch at Cal­i­for­nia Pizza Kitchen on El Paseo.

Safe­House of the Desert is for teens fac­ing dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions such as domes­tic vio­lence, drug addic­tion, unplanned preg­nan­cies, gen­der iden­tity issues, sui­cide and even life on the street. Safe­House is a cen­ter that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week care for teens.

Sev­eral teens from Safe­House were accom­pa­nied by staff mem­ber Brea Evans, vol­un­teer Esmer­alda Beclolla, Michael Pad­u­ano and WFPS board mem­ber Ger­ald Begy Ph.D.

The teens at Safe­House got the oppor­tu­nity to visit The Liv­ing Desert with a pri­vate group tour with Mike Chedester, Cura­tor of Edu­ca­tion. “We started the tour off pass­ing the G-Scale Model Train and off to see the ani­mals of the African wildlife exhibits,” says Pad­u­ano. “The Liv­ing Desert has worked many years to suc­cess­fully increase the world’s pop­u­la­tion of slender-horned gazelles, sand cats, addax and Ara­bian Oryx. Mike explained some of the sev­eral projects The Liv­ing Desert is involved with through­out the world help­ing endan­gered species and releas­ing ani­mals back into the wild to increase their pop­u­la­tion and sur­vival. The Wildlife Hos­pi­tal was also a very unique oppor­tu­nity to see the high­est qual­ity of care given to ani­mals while allow­ing vis­i­tors the chance to see while vis­it­ing,” adds Michael.

While at The Liv­ing Desert, many of the youth men­tioned that they had never been to The Liv­ing Desert before, and many of them had never been to a zoo before.

After The Liv­ing Desert the teens received lunch cour­tesy of Cal­i­for­nia Pizza Kitchen on El Paseo. Gen­eral Manger, Justin Jor­dan and Assis­tant Gen­eral Man­ager Bruce Brad­ford were gen­er­ous and wel­com­ing hosts for lunch.

The Well­ness Foun­da­tion Palm Springs 501 ( c ) 3 Tax ID #26–4397952, is located at 125 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way #203 Palm Springs, CA. 92262. Con­tact Michael Pad­u­ano, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor at 760–831-3761.

Tags: Michael Paduano, Palm Springs, Safehouse, Teens, Wellness Foundation Palm Springs

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