Bren gives $8.5 million to after-school program

Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren has pledged $8.5 million to THINK Together, an after-school program that launched in the 1990s as an effort to combat gang violence in Westside Costa Mesa.

The funds, which Bren will parcel out during the next five years, are targeted at expanding THINK Together’s programs in Santa Ana and East Los Angeles. The study center on Shalimar Drive in Costa Mesa is not expected to receive any of the money individually, but Randy Barth, the former Costa Mesa businessman who launched the program in 1997, said he couldn’t be happier about the donation.

“It was born at Shalimar in Costa Mesa, so this is kind of an evolution from there,” said Barth, the chief executive officer of THINK Together.

Bren was not available for comment, but he issued a news release saying he was motivated to support after-school programs after hearing about dropping enrollment and budget cuts in the Santa Ana and Los Angeles areas. THINK Together, which began in Costa Mesa, serves about 20,000 children in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“THINK Together is a proven program that delivers results for these young children at a critical time in their educational lives through the collaboration of teachers, school officials and volunteer mentors,” Bren wrote in the release.

Sat Tamaribuchi, the Irvine Co.’s vice president of environmental affairs, said Bren had supported the program since 1998 and made a $1-million contribution to it last year.

“He has a passion for education and really believes in the after-school program as a way to reach these children and invest in their future,” Tamaribuchi said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.