Volunteer Spotlight - Ralph Ornelas

Volunteers are truly the heart of Robyne’s Nest…their invaluable gift of their time enables us to fulfill our mission of supporting local at-risk and homeless teens to break their cycles and change the trajectory of their lives, for so many of the youth we serve. This month we are celebrating our dedicated and compassionate instructor, Ralph Ornelas. On a regular basis, Ralph provides community education presentations at our local high schools to students, administrators, and parents about the dangers of drugs, with an emphasis on Fentanyl. Ralph also interacts directly with our students on a deeper level, in smaller group settings, with Life Skills classes educating our teens about drugs and learning to put their safety first by setting boundaries and saying “no” to social pressures.

From Ralph:

I was introduced to Robyne’s Nest by Isabella Ford (another of our wonderful volunteers) who explained the great work Robyne’s Nest does to help the youth of our communities. Isabella was aware of my career in law enforcement and the work I have accomplished in the arena of helping youth in Los Angeles.

My spirit of intent is to continue the mission of educating our youth of the dangers of drugs and especially with regards to Fentanyl. I enjoy immensely mentoring our youth to prepare them for the challenges of life and Robyne’s Nest provides me with that forum.

About Ralph:

Ralph has been married to his high school sweetheart, Susan, for 44 years, and they have two children, Kristin and Gabriel. He holds a bachelor’s degree from CW Post College in New York.

Ralph’s extensive career with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spanned 37 years, promoting many times and holding the rank of Commander when he retired. During his service, Ralph served in many different areas, and held assignments in the jails, patrol stations, the Recruit Training Bureau, and specialty gang and narcotics units. Ralph was selected for Operation Safe Streets Bureau, a nationwide renowned “Gang Unit”, working locally and internationally with anti-gang programs, and also led the Federal Task Force “Operation Knockout” resulting in extensive Federal indictments of street gangs nationally. Upon retiring from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, he became the Chief of Police of the city of Westminster.

We are grateful to Ralph for his dedication and desire to serve our Robyne’s Nest students and our community!