Now in its 12th year, the Town Crier Holiday Fund continues its mission to support a variety of local non-profit agencies that efficiently and effectively provide goods and resources to the area’s underserved population.
Three Holiday Fund recipients – Help One Child, Jeremiah’s Promise and Sunday Friends – are profiled below. Watch for features on other groups supported by the fund in upcoming issues of the Town Crier.
Help One Child
The belief that every child deserves a safe and loving home inspires the volunteers and staff at Help One Child.
The Los Altos-based non-profit agency recruits, trains and supports individuals and families who provide foster homes for at-risk children. Its range of services include parent orientation, legal resources, tutoring, babysitting, support groups, social events, a prayer network and health and safety assistance. In addition, Help One Child collects and distributes donated goods from cribs to groceries and backpacks.
“What Help One Child has done for us is provide a network of connections and support,” said Paul Taylor, a foster parent of two children. “You think you are just taking in a kid, but really you are taking in a whole legal world. Talking to people who have done it before or are in a similar situation can be a huge help.”
The Taylors, who have three biological children as well as two foster children, have also turned to Help One Child for material support.
“We get a lot of hand-me-downs from them, and give a lot back to them,” he said.
Founded in 1993 by Los Altos Hills residents Mark and JoAnne Morris, Help One Child is a nondenominational Christian organization that relies on participation from more than 800 churches in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
In recent years, cuts to social services have complicated the organization’s mission. According to Susan Herman, executive director of Help One Child, the system has experienced a 50 percent reduction in the number of children in foster care over the past six months.
As state funding continues to decline, so does the number of social workers. That’s where Help One Child steps in.
The organization’s focus for the year is “extending our outreach to at-risk homes prior to a child’s removal and those on family maintenance plans following reunification,” Herman said.
In the past year, Help One Child served 605 families, a 26 percent increase from the year before. Nearly 1,100 volunteers donated 15,300 hours of service. The abundance of volunteers has enabled the organization to continue parental education and create three new educational programs for children.
For more information, visit helponechild.org.
Jeremiah’s Promise
When foster children age out of the system, Jeremiah’s Promise stands ready to guide them with a comprehensive approach that emphasizes building self-respect and independence.
As a result of years of childhood trauma, disappointment and judgment, former foster children often face an uncertain future, according to Kim Golter, founder and CEO of the Palo Alto-based non-profit Jeremiah’s Promise.
“It takes years to undo the damage,” she said. “We try to get to them when they turn 17 and a half, and we work with them until they are 24.”
With assistance from the Town Crier Holiday Fund, Jeremiah’s Promise has supported more than 40 former foster children since its inception in 2004. The organization’s mentors connect with emancipated young adults to offer encouragement, life-skills coaching and academic and career guidance as they pursue higher education or vocational training.
“It’s a community that is helping youth,” said John Mitchell, member of the board of directors. “It’s not an organization.”
Golter said mentors at Jeremiah’s Promise discover that former foster youth suffer emotionally from their histories of being parentless or being parented poorly.
“We love them through consistent mentoring, being there and being nonjudgmental,” she said.
Last year, Jeremiah’s Promise shuttered its live-in facility for women, choosing to focus on academic support and expanding its services to include young men. During the transition, Golter said, she has partnered with local colleges to secure classroom space for workshops, through which the organization plans to build a support network.
Golter hopes the program is fully up and running in 2012, with free classes that are interactive and anecdotal. The Jeremiah’s Promise team will teach the classes, because trust is very important to foster children, and “they know and trust us,” she said.
Jeremiah’s Promise, which operates on an annual budget of $302,000, takes its name from an Old Testament Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans for hope and a future.”
For more information, visit jeremiahspromise.org.
Sunday Friends
For many, Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation. But for some families, Sundays are a time for volunteering and community involvement.
Sunday Friends offers low-income families an opportunity to participate in community service activities that develop self-reliance and positive life skills to help break the cycle of poverty. A typical Sunday involves families making gifts for a senior center, writing thank-you notes to donors, brushing up on their English-speaking skills and learning how to cook healthful meals and manage money.
Sunday Friends is the “working alternative to charity,” according to Michael Hobson, executive director of the non-profit organization.
Lowell Elementary School in San Jose opens its doors at noon the second and fourth Sundays of every month to approximately 75 needy families. Through their participation, individuals earn tickets redeemable at Sunday Friends’ Treasure Chest, an on-site store that carries staples such as food, laundry detergent and diapers. There are items available for children as well, including bikes, toys and games. Donations from individuals, corporations and programs like the Town Crier Holiday Fund keep the Treasure Chest’s inventory stocked.
Sunday Friends provides participants with a bank account for their tickets, from young children to adults. Everyone learns the value of saving and using their “money” wisely, Hobson noted.
“That, to me, is powerful,” said Norma Fries, member of the board of directors. “You’re a kid and you’re earning it.”
Hobson said a variety of charities in Santa Clara County provide food, but Sunday Friends offers something different.
“Sunday Friends fills the gap that other agencies don’t,” he said. “We provide household cleaners, soaps and some clothing.”
In addition to its Sunday program, the organization equipped more than 400 children with school supplies in the past year.
Sunday Friends has an annual budget of $300,000. A goal to expand in 2012 to every Sunday requires a budget of $475,000, Hobson said.
For more information, visit sundayfriends.org.
There are three ways to give: Mail donations payable to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Attn: Town Crier Holiday Fund) to 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300, Mountain View 94040; call 450-5444 to use a credit card; or donate online at www.siliconvalleycf.org/latc-holiday-fund.
