Donating a large sum of money to charity will usually get your name in the paper. But when addiction-treatment programs receive financial support from alumni or other supporters, the grants are usually made out of the limelight because of privacy or anonymity concerns.

So when Southern California businessman Karl McMillen very publicly gave $5.3 million to the Torrance Memorial Medical Center to expand an outpatient chemical-dependency treatment program and boost care for adolescents, it was noteworthy on a number of levels.

Most eye-catching, of course, is the amount of the gift. While McMillen, cofounder of the regional plumbing-distribution chain Todd Pipe & Supply, Inc., is a wealthy man, he's no Bill Gates. Suffice to say that $5 million will make a significant dent in his savings account.

As for the hospital, "The McMillen gift is the largest private donation in Torrance Memorial's history, and one of the largest private donations made to a community hospital," said Laura Schenasi, executive vice president of the Torrance Memorial Health Care Foundation.

Moreover, by speaking publicly about his own experience with alcohol and other drugs, McMillen has helped focus attention on the need for treatment in his area, and the role that people in recovery can play in helping others with addiction problems.

"My wife and I lost a son to drugs, and I've struggled with alcohol," said McMillen. "Recovery is an issue that hits close to home for me. I am motivated to make a difference in our community and to help others find their way out of addiction."

The money will be used to help expand Torrance Memorial's current outpatient treatment program, which will move into a new 10,000-square-foot building with separate rooms for counseling and meetings, as well as a library and exercise area. Funds also will be set aside to pay for treatment for those who cannot afford it.

Torrance Memorial chief psychologist Morris Gelbart, Ph.D., said the new Thelma McMillen Center -- renamed in honor of McMillen's late wife -- will be able to treat two or three times as many patients as the previous facility. The center, which will open in April 2003, will also launch an outreach effort in order to train teachers, human-resource managers, community-service groups, and clergy to assist people with addictions.

"In our geographic community and our treatment community, this is really an enormous boost," said Gelbart of the donation.

Gelbart praised McMillen both for his gift and for speaking out about the addiction issues that have impacted his family.

"Here's a person who has a huge company that's very well known locally, but nobody really knows him because his name is not on the business," he said. "He could have been as anonymous as he wanted to be. But by taking the step of donating this money to a community hospital and dedicating it to chemical dependency, by talking about his family and naming the center for his wife, I think that shows a lot of courage."

News of McMillen's donation has been reported on the pages of the Torrance Daily Breeze and the Los Angeles Times. Yet his reasons for supporting the hospital's treatment program remain very personal, and simple.

McMillen's son, Mark, died of an overdose in 1986, and Thelma McMillen had often volunteered at local hospitals. And then there was the day, six years ago, when Thelma called one of Todd Pipe & Supply's supervisors and asked that he confront Karl about his drinking.

The message got through. "I was embarrassing the company," said McMillen, who quit drinking cold turkey that day and says he hasn't had a drink since. "Maybe I was full," he joked dryly.

McMillen never went to treatment or AA himself. But as a grandfather and a veteran of the local surfing scene, he said he has seen many stories of success and tragedy related to alcohol and other drugs. Given that, he said, the donation to nearby Torrance Memorial "just made sense."

Gelbart says McMillen's gift could have an impact well beyond its monetary value. "Because of the amount and the publicity, we're hoping that it will inspire other people to consider giving," he said. "This could remind others who have gone through the program to give something back."