Giving back comes naturally to the 2016 Giving from the Heart philanthropy award winners — Mercer Island Pediatrics and Barb Hovsepian of Au Courant salon.

Both are deeply engrained in the Mercer Island community. The salon, which Hovsepian has owned since 2010, is a gathering place and frequent sponsor of many causes, from the Youth and Family Services (MIYFS) Food Bank to Relay for Life. Mercer Island Pediatrics is also uniquely situated to help children in need, and has been a partner to MIYFS’s Communities that Care program and the Heathy Youth Initiative.

Both will be honored at MIYFS’s annual Giving from the Heart breakfast and fundraising event at 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 10.

Hovsepian’s giving philosophy centers around creativity and simplicity. The salon has hosted food drives in February, October and November and had a giving tree in December. It is also the leading seller of YFS’s glass pumpkins and one of the 12 vendors for the glass hearts, available through Valentine’s Day.

“People don’t realize how easy it is to give and to help, and it doesn’t have to be large,” she said. “We like to provide an opportunity for people to be aware of what’s going on in the community, and to participate.”

Hovsepian’s father was a minister in a small town and she said that growing up, her parents had a hard time making ends meet.

“Community members would help our family in many ways and that was a real blessing for my parents, my younger sisters and myself. It was hard to see them struggle while working so hard themselves to help others,” she said. “As an adult and a parent, my appreciation of this is even stronger. This is my motivation for helping others how and where I can. Good hard-working people need help from time to time, and I believe if you can help, you should help.”

Au Courant, also home to a salon for men called The Den and image and wardrobe consulting service Posh, has provided donation items for school auctions, hosted the varsity boys basketball team for its “Buzz Night” and gives free haircuts for people looking to get back in the workforce.

“People don’t realize how much Youth and Family Services does,” Hovsepian said. “Some assume that where there’s money, there’s no need.”

Affluent communities such as Mercer Island deal with different, but still difficult, problems. The Communities that Care project was formed because many Island youth are high achievers, which can serve to hide underage drinking and drug use.

“Everybody in our clinic is 100 percent behind the work of YFS, especially what they’re doing to hone in on the unique issues kids face here,” said Dr. Danette Glassy from Mercer Island Pediatrics. “It’s a joy to partner with Cindy Goodwin (MIYFS director) and her team to ask the hard questions and brainstorm solutions.”

The approach is a “community-wide response to a community-wide issue,” that intends to make meaningful changes by tailoring to what the community needs.

“Working with Island pediatricians, dentists and other youth providers to screen for risk factors and engaging with parents beginning at a young age can cast a new kind of safety net — one that addresses problems ‘up river’ before they create significant or life-changing problems for the child, parent, or family in the present,” Goodwin said.

Mercer Island Pediatrics is comprised of six pediatricians: Glassy, Julie Ellner, Elizabeth Evans, Luz Maria Gonzalez, Hal Quinn and John Schroeder, and a team of nurses and administrative staff members. All are involved in the Island community beyond MIYFS; Evans is a Girl Scout troop leader and Quinn and Schroeder have served as sideline doctors for the high school sports teams.

Both Mercer Island Pediatrics and Hovsepian “exhibit outstanding civic and charitable responsibility and have encouraged, inspired and motivated others to take philanthropic and civic leadership roles in the community,” Goodwin said.

Register for the Giving from the Heart Breakfast at www.miyfs.org.