• Mission: Sunday Friends aims to empower families in need to break the cycle of poverty. Children and parents earn basic necessities while they contribute to their community, learn life skills and develop self-sufficiency.
• 2016 update: This year Sunday Friends is celebrating 20 years of connecting families in San Jose to services, opportunities and each other.
The non-profit agency gathers young families each week to work together on financial literacy and self-advocacy classes as well as service activities to benefit other groups facing substantial need. Parent engagement – and the robust, sustained participation from fathers – are a priority, and source of pride, for Sunday Friends.
Volunteers supply a variety of knowledge resources, from health screening to housing advocacy to literacy, as well as joining local families in weekly projects.
Whether they’re creating puppets for children at a local hospital, cooking a healthful meal or studying English, participants are viewed as self-empowering rather than just aid recipients.
• Why the Holiday Fund is needed: Donor funds are used to stock a “shop” with basic necessities, such as school and cleaning supplies and baby-care products.
Participating families earn credit through classwork and service projects, which they can use to “purchase” essentials for their home with dignity.
Location: 730 Story Road, Suite 3, San Jose
Annual budget: $1.2 million
Staff: 4 full-time, 20 part-time employees; 100 volunteers
Holiday Fund contributions are tax deductible and processed through a donor-advised fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The foundation provides letters acknowledging donor contributions. The Town Crier will present grant funds to the 20 organizations in early 2017. The paper also profiles each organization in articles published throughout the holiday season.
To donate online, visit siliconvalleycf.org/latc-holiday-fund.
To donate by check, make checks payable to “SVCF/Town Crier Holiday Fund” and mail to 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300, Mountain View 94040.
For more information, visit latcholidayfund.org.