CV History: Angel View, Which Got Its Start Helping Kids With Polio, Has Been Assisting Disabled Coachella Valley Residents for More Than 70 Years

High on Mount San Jacinto above Palm Springs is a rock cluster that’s much lighter than the surrounding terrain. With “wings” on either side, the formation resembles an angel. It is quite noticeable, especially in the early morning hours. Appropriately named due to the protective analogy an angel represents, the Angel View Crippled Children’s Foundation had its beginnings in a Desert Hot Springs space that has an unobstructed view of the “angel on the mountain.”

Angel View, a nonprofit organization that helps disabled children throughout the Coachella Valley, was founded in 1954 on a natural hot mineral spring in Desert Hot Springs by a group of parents whose children suffered from polio.

Dr. Robert Bingham, an orthopedic surgeon, had been treating arthritis patients, and natural spring waters did wonders soothing their pain. He thought the waters could help polio patients, too—and was so convinced that he donated land on Miracle Hill Road in Desert Hot Springs, with direct access to those therapeutic waters. A 52-bed rehabilitation hospital was constructed on the site, to specifically care for polio patients—and the therapeutic waters of the hot springs indeed helped the children.

After polio was pretty much eradicated thanks to the Salk vaccine, Angel View shifted its focus to offer care for children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities. Dr. Bingham specifically began focusing his attention on crippled children. He was a life-long Angel View supporter and maintained his clinic on Miracle Hill—although he was the subject of occasional controversy unrelated to Angel View—until he died in May 1994.

Since that first facility, Angel View has expanded to numerous specially equipped six-bed transitional houses throughout the Coachella Valley, and for several years also maintained a summer camp on 17 acres in Joshua Tree. The homes are located in various neighborhoods in several valley cities, and each provides a family-like atmosphere with 24-hour nursing, therapy and other care.

As part of its mission to help children and adults with disabilities reach their maximum potential, Angel View today has evolved to offer three programs: residential care, a Day Program, and Angel View outreach. The original rehabilitation hospital facility in Desert Hot Springs now serves as the headquarters of Angel View’s therapeutic Day Program, for adults from throughout the Coachella Valley with intellectual disabilities; it began in 2008 and has been expanded three times. The Outreach Program provides essential support and services at no cost to families and is funded entirely by donations.

The community has long embraced the work performed by Angel View, where more than 90 percent of donated funds go toward serving those in need. Angel View relies heavily on grants, donations and its network of thrift stores.

Annual fundraising events also support Angel View. The benefits have involved some of the valley’s key businesspeople and philanthropists over the years, including the late Jackie Lee Houston, a TV station owner, and the late Mel Haber, owner of Ingleside Inn. The store on Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs is called the Jackie Lee Boutique Thrift Store, in honor of the woman who gave much to Angel View and was named “Angel of the Year” in 2000. Haber served as an Angel View foundation board member in 1983 and became Angel View’s president in 1993. When the foundation opened its 17th home in November 2002, it was named the Mel Haber House in his honor. One of the most popular men on Earth at the time, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, attended benefits not long after he became the second man to walk on the moon.

Angel View has housed thousands of children over the past 70 years, including Dan Philbin, son of TV personality Regis Philbin. Dan was born with missing vertebrae and leg muscles; he entered Angel View at age 3 and eventually had both legs amputated. The younger Philbin attended Palm Springs High School, and eventually got two college degrees. He was the featured speaker at Angel View’s 50th anniversary celebration in February 2004.

One key person who helped garner national attention for Angel View was writer and journalist Glory Hartley. When her son, Danny Munday, became one of the last American children afflicted with polio, Hartley brought him to the original Angel View center in 1954, where he was one of the first inpatients. Though wheelchair-bound, Danny was a quick learner and passed the ham radio test at age 9. His progress at Angel View impressed both Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, who wintered at Eldorado Country Club in Indian Wells. Glory Hartley even brought the First Lady out to see the distinctive rock formation for which the organization is named, and later, President Eisenhower made a visit to Angel View. While Danny unfortunately died at the age of 15, Hartley continued to support Angel View and make an impact on Palm Springs. She and Sally Presley Rippingale co-founded the Palm Springs Women’s Press Club in 1980. Hartley wrote for several publications and also published The Desert Insider, a local guide.

Since the outset, Angel View has raised funds for its programs by operating resale (thrift) stores. Starting in the 1960s with one shop in Palm Springs, Angel View today operates a network of 14 resale stores throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including a massive clearance center on Dillon Road in Desert Hot Springs.

Proceeds from store sales are a critically important source of continued funding for Angel View as it continues its work in its eighth decade of existence.

Sources for this article include Bedtime Stories of the Ingleside Inn by Mel Haber (Ingleside Press, 1996); The Desert Insider by Glory Hartley (1970); Desert Memories by The Desert Sun (2002); and the Angel View website: angelview.org.