By JASMIN PERSCH Special to the Daily Press
Frank Schwengel has performed an outstanding community service with his years of volunteerism, say those who have benefited from his dedication and commitment at the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club.
The club, which aims to foster the development of local youth, will honor Schwengel with the Community Service Award this Thursday for his decades-long dedication to children.
Schwengel, 72, started his volunteerism career by filling a coaching position on a basketball team at the club because his pre-teen twin sons wanted to play — almost 30 years ago.
Since then, he has involved himself in all areas of the Boys & Girls Club — from fundraising to planning programs and helping with retreats. He’s been on the board of directors since 1986 and served as chairman from 2000 to 2002.
Schwengel also has been active in Santa Monica schools and city government. He joined the Parents Teachers Association at Madison School in 1975 and served as president there for five years and for two at John Adams Middle School.
He joined the Recreation and Parks Commission 14 years ago and chaired for 12 of them. He ran for City Council twice in 1996 and 1998. He lost both times but came in close the first time.
He retired in 1992 but now works at the Interbusiness Bank as the executive vice president and chief administration officer. Schwengel also helps small businesses by consulting with them on finances. Schwengel has helped small businesses in Santa Monica, such as local pizzeria The Slice, by assisting them with their financing, he said.
Born in Missouri, Schwengel was raised in Davenport, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Iowa with a business degree in 1955. He went into the United States Marine Corps upon graduation and served in Okinawa, Japan, until 1957. A job transfer with the drug company Rexal landed him in Santa Monica in 1962. His first wife, who moved with him to the West Coast, later died of cancer. He met his now 75-year-old wife, Gwen, at Rexal, where she worked in the cosmetic and toiletries department.
They married in 1969 and bought their house on Ocean Front Walk a year before that.
“We were the big house down here at one time, right. Now we live in Schwengel Canyon,” he chuckled, refer-ring to the newer houses that tower over their home.
Jake, their 18-year-old parrot, a military macaw, is known to wave at passers-by on the bike path. And Itsy, their 3-year-old Chihuahua, is Jake’s furry friend, who bounces around the house and front yard, with free reign on the furniture.
Schwengel and his wife have children from their previous marriages. Gwen’s 53-year-old daughter, Lyndee, lives in Hollywood, and Schwengel’s 43-year-old son, Robert, lives in Rhode Island.
The 35-year-old twin boys have long since moved out. Kurt Schwengel lives locally and teaches kindergarten at Franklin Elementary School, and Kris Schwengel teaches fourth grade at Punahou School in Honolulu.
Schwengel may have started at the Boys & Girls Club by coaching his boys’ basketball team, but his dozens of years of volunteering weren’t for them or even for himself.
“We (Gwen and myself) did it to make the whole picture better,” Schwengel said. “Making things better for youths.”
The Daily Press recently sat down with Schwengel to talk about his award, giving back and life by the beach.
How does it feel to be honored with the award?
“I’m really thrilled about it, I’ll tell you. It’s really unexpected. To be in the kind of company of Bob Sullivan, Wayne Harding, who were previous recipients of it and long-time influential residents in the city of Santa Monica. To be included in that class of people is really a thrill, yeah.”
What is your most memorable experience with the Boys & Girls Club?
“Well, I remember participating in a retreat here in the last few years. The staff always goes out of town for a weekend retreat, and I’ve gone for the last five or six years. And, at one of the retreats, we went around the table and each of the staff members — there were part-timers and full-timers — talked about what kid that they helped or what kid showed the most growth when they were talking about it. And they started talking about these kids and about the second one in, they started getting teary eyed and we went around listened to the staff talk about what the kids had done, the things they had changed, a kid who came in and had no friends, did-n’t talk to anybody and now he talks and now he’s a leader and now he’s healthy. We went around the table and there were about 30 of them there and it was just really, really impressive because they just knew they had helped somebody and they stopped to think about it.
“Another experience is going to Washington, D.C., at the congressional breakfast when they announce the youth of the year... What some of the kids have been through to become what they are and several of them are just unbelievable — boys and girls. This one young man from New York was from a single parent. His dad was an alcoholic and a druggy, and his mom was trying to support him but couldn’t. She sent them to an uncle’s place in Puerto Rico. I think it was when he was about 5 years old. He and his sister — the uncle didn’t like him, the family didn’t like him. And they had to live outside the house in Puerto Rico for two or three years until the mother was able to get them back to New York. And coming back to New York, of course, they had no friends. And he went to the Boys & Girls Club, found a friend, found somebody who cared, got back in school, graduated from high school with honors and was going to college and going to be a teacher. Story after story like that — boys and girls, you know, from all over the country — how they’ve been helped.”
What makes the Boys & Girls Club different from other service organizations?
“It’s the atmosphere that’s created and that everybody’s enjoying what they’re doing. The staff enjoy what they do, the children enjoy what they’re doing. I can go there tonight, get three or four hugs and give three or four hugs. Also, a big part of the Boys & Girls Club is helping the kids become more confident in themselves. There are several of them who just through encouragement get through school. One kid just recently now has gone off to college. He came here when he didn’t have his high school degree. We encouraged him to get his high school degree and encouraged him to go on and enroll in classes at SMC. Three or four years later, he’s worked himself so that he has gotten into a university. We’re helping him get ideas about scholarships and etcetera. To see the kind of growth he did. He wasn’t the only one. There are quite a few who are just like that. Some that are still there.”
Why have you focused your volunteer work on children?
“That was the greatest need I could see. At Madison School, which in those days, when the boys went there, was considered a very poor school. There were latch-key kids that were very prevalent, and they needed help in programs. And there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing them grow and develop. Providing a place for them to get all the opportunities.”
What do you like about Santa Monica? “I like the weather, the ocean situation, where it is. The Boys & Girls Club has given me the opportunity to see how generous people are and how concerned about the community they are. I like a lot of things that we’ve done for recreation and parks. I think we made a big advancement for the city. And I’ve been lucky, my association with the city through recreation and parks; I’ve been able to know and work with two brilliant women — one is the retiring City Manager Susan McCarthy, a really brilliant lady — and then Barbara Stinchfield, the current head of the cultural human services division in Santa Monica.”
Is there anything you don’t like about Santa Monica?
“I don’t like the roughness of the politics. Too much hate. That’s really all. That’s about it. It’s a nice place. I could-n’t have found a better place to raise a family... It’s a great place to raise a family and participate in things.”
What’s your favorite place in Santa Monica?
“Right here by the beach, I sure do. Every night when I close the gate by the back door, it’s like going on vacation. I walk every day on the beach. You know, on the sand. It’s tremendous exercise. I use the bike path as often as I can.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 7, 2005. Read the original PDF.