About Us

Malibu Community Assistance Resource Team (C.A.R.T.) was founded in 2015 by long time Malibu resident and activist, Carol Moss and Reverend Sandy Liddell, in response to the growing local homeless epidemic. C.A.R.T.’s mission is to help stabilize the homeless, where possible, and help connect these individuals with available services, with the belief that this will benefit the broader community while lessening the suffering of all involved.

Malibu C.A.R.T. became a 501 (c) 3 in 2017 and has grown as an extraordinary community-based team of volunteers helping the entire Malibu community, including the homeless and many in need. C.A.R.T. continues honing and expanding its relationships with a broad network of partners including the County of Los Angeles, the City of Malibu, community activists, faith-based organizations, educational institutions, non-profits, as well as concerned individuals in order to expand assistance and support for all of those in need within our community.

C.A.R.T. recognizes and prioritizes the importance of preserving the dignity of a person in need. We believe in reducing the shame associated with need and homelessness and assist in this by helping to provide what many of us take for granted – clean bodies, clean clothes, food, shelter, eye-to-eye contact, an open ear and a willing heart. C.A.R.T. provides help respectfully. Keeping this as a key element, we develop relationships and trust. And trust champions progress.

The Board

Carol Moss
Founder

Carol Moss

Founder

Carol Moss resided in Malibu for over 55 years and lived in the city full time for over 25 years. Consistently involved in local political and environmental affairs, she was a founding Board Member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a strong voice at the beginning of the Malibu Township Council, and an initiator of Measure “R”, which attempted to slow formula retail commercial growth at the Civic Center. She also helped to obtain Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach for the State of California and later fought without success to preserve the Lagoon from controversial and high-risk reconfiguration. She has additionally used her skills as a member of the California Bar toward successful international peacemaking and local anti-nuclear activism. Concerned about the rise of homelessness in Malibu, in 2015, Ms. Moss founded the Community Assistance Resource Team (C.A.R.T.) with the aim of helping to lessen the suffering of the local homeless community and community at large. She had a vision and lived it herself through her compassion, strong spirit, and acts of kindness always. Carol’s legacy lives on through our work.

Terry Davis
President

Terry Davis

President

Terry has lived and been involved in Malibu for over 7 years. Her vocation has been acting; her avocation has been community service. Since her teens Terry has sought to help those in need to the best of her capabilities and has worked with a number of non-profits over the years. She also served on her Neighborhood Council and Chamber of Commerce Board when she lived in Los Angeles and currently serves on her POA in Big Rock. Terry is grateful to have found Malibu C.A.R.T. and Carol Moss, whom she aims to emulate.

Bianca Torrence
Vice President

Bianca Torrence

Vice President

Bianca Torrence is a local Malibu Real Estate Professional, an active volunteer in her community.  She organized Malibu’s first official LAHSA homeless count in January 2014 and has headed up the annual homeless count until 2018 when she handed this task to the city of Malibu. She is also a co-founding member of Malibu CART, a board director of the Malibu Association of Realtors, serving in the Ethics, Professional standards and Grievance Committee. She is past president of the Malibu Rotary Club 2017-2019. She recently founded DTLF.org in memory of her late Olympian son, advocating for clean sports, offering resources & education to youth runners; she raises funds for underprivileged children in her home country of Peru. When not working or helping the less fortunate, Bianca enjoys time with her family, she loves swimming in the ocean, hiking and practicing mindful meditation.

Kay Gabbard
Treasurer

Kay Gabbard

Treasurer

After getting her Masters’ Degree in Special Education Kay taught school in Ohio and Cambridge, Massachusetts where she and her husband lived for 6 years and where she became a strong advocate for the education of children with disabilities in integrated settings in public schools. When her husband finished graduate school in Cambridge, they moved to California, had two sons and she became Director of the Malibu Methodist Nursery School, serving as such for 39 years. During that time she again became an advocate for equity by making every effort to make the school available to all children and Families who were interested in their play based program regardless of circumstances.

She became involved in the unhoused population in Malibu when the school set up a “bring an item and take an item” program in a public space on their campus and she noticed that items were brought and traded during the evenings and weekends when the school was closed. A few dinners offered to anyone in the community soon became a regular event and a way to get to know those in need, build trust, show respect and be available if and when they needed help to change their circumstances. Soon with the help of Rev. Sandy Liddell and Carol Moss, Malibu CART (Malibu Community Assistance Resource Team) was born. The City of Malibu, local churches, public schools and Pepperdine stepped in. Outreach workers were hired to reach out to each valued member of the unhoused community, a Task Force was formed to determine

Malibu’s role in sharing the statewide resolve to give a leg up to those who are ready. Kay is a member of this Task Force and has served on the Board of the Malibu Community Labor Exchange for the over 8 years and is proud of the work they have been able to accomplish recently to help their worker/clients through Pandemic times when many of them remain in need of work to support their families. Kay has been married to her husband Bryan for 56 years (and counting!); they have two sons and seven grandchildren. She is grateful for their support and love in all endeavors and is proud to be a member of the Malibu Community who counts among its many attributes compassion, generosity and a respect for the humanity of all people.

Laura Alfano
Secretary

Laura Alfano

Secretary

Laura Alfano is a hyper focused sales and marketing executive with over 30 years experience in successfully launching new brands and businesses globally. Alongside her career, she volunteered in her children’s schools, athletic teams, local library, Boys & Girls Club, Girl Scouts and Big Brothers Big Sisters. A native New Yorker, now living in Malibu, has leveraged her corporate experiences, passion for mentoring others, and love of buying and selling a diverse collection of homes, into a consulting enterprise to help drive conscious consumerism for wellness products, services and real estate.

Laura believes the time for consumers to make responsible and conscious choices for the products and services they consume has never been more important to sustaining our health – for self, families, communities and Mother Earth. We are all one.

Her dedication to serving community in Malibu was heightened when she discovered the rate of homelessness. Her quest to help, led her to Carol Moss, the visionary behind Malibu CART. She recognizes the scope of what we are up against has no immediate solution; however, standing by and doing nothing, is not an option.
Laura is the mother of three children, a member of Our Lady of Malibu, The Malibu Chamber of Commerce, Conscious Capitalism LA and Malibu C.A.R.T. In her spare time, she practices meditation and yoga.

Monica Lurey
Director

Monica Lurey

Director

Monica’s career as a branding and marketing expert has spanned almost 20 years as a senior executive in the entertainment industry working with several studios, including Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios. Most recently, she established her own business here in Malibu, BrandVice LA. Over the years, she has helped launch and supported various grassroots organizations including the national organization Step Up Women’s Network as it launched its Los Angeles chapter. She is passionate about supporting youth from under-served communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused individuals ready to join the next generation of professionals to break glass ceilings in their fields. Joining the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, Monica extends this support to all children and young adults here in Malibu, who come from a multitude of diverse backgrounds and have as unique support needs that vary as much as they do as individual youths. Serving on the Board of Malibu C.A.R.T. highlights another of Monica’s passion, empowering individuals and families in danger of becoming, or who are homeless, by addressing challenges in a respectful and humane manner while providing and connecting them with supportive services that lead to long-term solutions. Monica is also a volunteer with A Safe Play for Youth (S.P.Y.), a Los Angeles organization that assists youth who are in danger of losing their homes.

Lea Johnson
Director

Lea Johnson

Director

Lea Johnson is an Estate Director and Certified Relocation Specialist with Sotheby’s International Realty in Malibu. She and her husband, Leon, are in the Top 1% Nationwide and have been in Residential Real Estate for 18 successful years. A recipient of numerous achievement awards, Lea also served as a Director for Malibu Board of Realtors.

Patient, friendly, and high energetic, Lea’s leadership and involvement in community service through various feeding the Homeless outreach organizations in addition to Malibu C.A.R.T. She is also actively involved in sponsoring orphanages in her native Romania and in Tijuana, Mexico, assisting orphan children and families in need with relief supplies.

Diane Everette
Director

Diane Everette

Director

After graduating from U.S.C. with a teaching credential, Diane taught elementary school in the Redondo Beach City School District. After receiving her real estate license, Diane moved to Malibu where she has been a resident and real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Malibu for 25 years. She has served as a Board Member on the Malibu Board of Realtors and received the Coldwell Banker International President’s Elite Award. When Malibu became a City in 1991, Diane was appointed to the Malibu City Trails Advisory Committee for drafting the Malibu Trails Map for coastal plan compliance. Diane became concerned with the local homeless community and joined C.A.R.T. in 2017 where she hopes that her real estate background can help with possible housing solutions.

Our Partners

Malibu is filled with individuals and organizations that offer their time, energy, knowledge and skills to help get those who are in need to be a better place one step at a time. We work closely with local, county, and state programs to help connect individuals with various needs to get them closer to living the lives they aspire to lead.

We have a special place in our hearts for Reverend Paul Elder, Malibu’s Father Teresa.

We’d like to thank our partners and volunteers for their tireless effort.

The City of Malibu
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl
Venice Family Clinic
St. Joseph Center
The People Concern
LASHA
Hope Mills
St. Aiden’s
Malibu United Methodist
Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue
Chabad of Malibu
Malibu Presbyterian
Our Lady of Malibu
PC Greens
Farmer’s Market
Vintage Grocers
Serra Retreat
Whole Foods
Lava Mae
Robert Bruce
Our veterinarian, Dr. Lupo

OUR BENEFACTORS

 

Joey & Jacy Nitilo

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Never doubt that a small group of citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has

– Margaret Mead