How you can help children, needy families

Area food banks and social service agencies are collecting donations to help the needy through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Here’s how you can help:

Santa Clara County

LifeMoves: formerly InnVision Shelter Network, provides interim housing and supportive services for homeless families and individuals to rapidly return to stable housing and achieve long-term self-sufficiency. Last year, LifeMoves served over 10,000 people: 93 percent of families and 72 percent of singles returned to stable housing. To help directly support homeless children and adults during this holiday season, LifeMoves requests financial contributions as well as donations of gift cards, linens and bedding, new socks undergarments, kitchen supplies, and dish ware. For more informationabout our holiday giving opportunities, go to www. lifemoves.org/holidays. Live Oak Adult Day Services: needs soft, warm items like socks, sweaters, sweats, hoods, gloves, scarves, to give to our seniors as stocking stuffers and personal gifts from Mr. & Mrs. Santa when they come to visit each of our four centers. We also need nutritious, nonperishable foods including, tuna, peanut butter, low-sugar snacks, 100 percent fruit juices, canned fruit, lowsodium canned vegetables, grocery and retail gift cards are welcome. To donate call 408-971-9363 or email liveoakdaycare@att.net. Go to our website at www. liveoakadultdaycare.org.

Martha’s Kitchen: a private nonprofit, community-based agency needs frozen turkeys and 5-pound canned hams. Donations may be dropped off at Martha’s Kitchen, 311 Willow St., corner of Locust Street, at the Sacred Heart Church grounds, 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays, Thursday and Fridays; 6 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 408-293-6111, www. marthas-kitchen.org. We are closed Dec. 24-Jan. 1. NAMI Santa Clara County: offers practical experience, support, and education to anyone concerned about mental illnesses and their treatment in Santa Clara County. We work with public organizations, private businesses and the media to increase knowledge of effective ways of treating the illnesses while advocating for research and improved services for individuals with mental illness. Our Warmline/Help Desk has trained and knowledgeable volunteers with lived experience who offer free and confidential information and support services to individuals, family and friends who have been affected by mental illness. We are requesting donations for our annual Holiday Gift Drive (socks, scarves, gloves, hats, travel sized toiletries, decks of playing cards, pocket calendars, $5 gift cards for food and beverages), for gift bags which are delivered to over 600 people in need at local hospitals, self-help centers, churches and homeless shelters. Our office hours are 10a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call us at 408-453-0400, option 1; or visit us at 1150 S. Bascom Ave., Suite 24, San Jose, CA

95128 (during office hours); or email us at info@namisantaclara.org.

Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence (NDS): asks our community to help make the holidays a little bit brighter by providing items for our Winter Open House celebration for our clients and their children on Dec. 16. Gift cards in $25 increments (i.e., Target, Mi Pueblo Foods); new books, especially multilingual or multicultural, and new stuffed animals. NDS also will accept monetary donations. Next Door Solution’s mission is to end domestic violence in the moment and for all time, supporting survivors on their path from crisis to self-sufficiency. Contact us at development@nextdoor.org or 408-501-7544, www.nextdoor.org. RotaCare Bay Area: isa volunteer alliance of medical professionals, organizations and community members dedicated to providing free primary, quality health care services to uninsured families and individuals with limited ability to pay for medical care. We are in need of volunteer physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, as well as pharmacists, registrars and interpreters. We rely on monetary donations of the community; donate online at www.rotacarebayarea.org, or by mail 514 Valley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035 or by phone at 408-263-8166. Sacred Heart Community Service: is distributing 7,400 holiday food boxes to families and toys to 6,200 children. Bring joy this holiday season and join our family by dropping off turkeys or new toys, volunteering, organizing a donation drive, or volunteering. Our donation station is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays at 1381 S. First St., San Jose. To learn more and donate online, go to www.sacredheartcs.org/holidays.

St. Vincent de Paul of

Santa Clara County: is a nonprofit organization that has been helping all needy individuals and families throughout Santa Clara County since 1946. With a goal of homeless prevention and rehousing families in need of shelter they are often a last resort for those facing life on the streets. With 23 conferences and over 700 volunteers located throughout Santa Clara County, each year they help over 92,000 needy people with rent, utilities, clothing, food and health care. Monetary donations to help needy families are always appreciated, especially as we approach the holidays and inclement weather. Donations can be made online or mailed in. The organization also accepts auto donations. For more information, go to www.svdp.org. The Salvation Army Silicon Valley: works to do the most good, for the most people, in the most need. This year as Christmas approaches, help us make the holidays merry for those in need by donating. For children 0-12 years of age: baby dolls, soft plush toys, building toys, Barbie, board games, skateboards, toddler ride-on toys, trikes, bikes, sports equipment, educational and musical toys/gifts. Gift cards, warm clothing such as sweatshirts, hoodies and other warm clothing for preteens. For seniors: body/personal care bags or baskets, blankets. For the homeless: thick warm socks, knit hats, underwear, gloves, cold-weather jackets, ponchos, blankets and sleeping bags. Donations can be left at The Salvation Army Silicon Valley, 359 N. Fourth St., San Jose, CA 95112. Office hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 408-282-1165. Website: salvationarmysiliconvalley.org.

City of Saratoga: is collecting nonperishable food items as well as new, unwrapped toys to be distributed to needy families this holiday season as part of its annual Food and Toy Drive. Food donations can be delivered to the Joan Pisani Community Center, 19655 Allendale Ave., Saratoga; Saratoga Area Senior Center, 19655 Allendale Ave.; Prospect Center, 19848 Prospect Road; and Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Ave. Toys can be dropped off at the Saratoga City Manager’s Office, 13777 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga Historical Museum, 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, the Joan Pisani Community Center, and Saratoga Area Senior Center. Donations will be accepted through Dec. 20. For more information, call 408-868-1249 or go to www.saratoga.ca.us. Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties: is one of the largest food banks in the nation and provides food to an average of more than 257,000 people each month here in Silicon Valley. A $50 donation can provide the equivalent of 100 nutritious meals. In addition to cash donations, it is also requesting frozen turkeys, and nutritious nonperishable food items such as canned food with pop-top lids (for example: meals in a can, soup, stew, chili, low-sodium vegetables), tuna, peanut butter, olive or canola oil, and healthy snacks. Donations can be dropped off at any of its three locations: 750 Curtner Ave., San Jose; 4001 N. First St., San Jose; or 1051 Bing St., San Carlos. For a drop-off schedule or to make a donation, call 866-2343663 or go to SHFB.org. The Shop with a Cop Foundation Silicon Valley: seeks funding to host over 100 underserved children for a holiday shopping spree with local Bay Area police officers. For many of the children, this special opportunity becomes the only holiday experience they will have. Some participants are selected from the Readers Are Leaders reading campaign at local elementary schools, where they “earn” their way to the shopping spree. Other children participating are living in traumatic crisis from the loss of a parent, domestic violence and other tragedies. With a uniformed police officer by their side during the shopping spree, each child receives a $150 Target gift card to shop for gifts for their family members and for themselves. The whole premise is to humanize the people behind the badge so that children can grow up trusting the police. Go to www.shopwithacopsv.org. Our address is P.O. Box 8003, San Jose, CA 951558003. The Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF):

is a nonprofit resource and advocate for students and educators in Silicon Valley. SVEF is dedicated to putting all students on track for college and career, focusing on the critical areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Through operating programs, advocating for equitable policies at the school district level, and bringing innovation education technology into the classroom, SVEF directly works to create a 21st century skilled workforce and empower underserved, minority students. Help SVEF close the achievement gap today and give the gift of education. For more information, go to www.svefoundation.org or call 408-790-9400. SJB Child Development

Centers: provide services for low income families in Santa Clara County who have children from newborn to 12-years-old, offering them free to low-cost preschool or before and after school child care from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday. Our program also includes free breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks for children who attend our subsidized programs. We are dedicated to provide high-quality services for families to help their children succeed in school and life. We are seeking donations to purchase needed materials for the classroom such as age appropriate children books, educational toys and computers for the school-age program. Please consider making a donation to our program to support children in need and to help them thrive. SJB Child Development Centers, 1400 Parkmoor Ave., San Jose, CA 95126. 408-414-2700, ext. 210, or go to sjbcdc.org. Sunnyvale Community Services: is seeking nonperishable food items, new toys, gifts and gift cards for those ages 7 to 17 for holiday gift distribution to low-income families in Sunnyvale. Food items most needed are healthy cereal, canned tuna and chicken, peanut butter and jelly, canned soup, and canned tomato products. Gift cards to Target and Safeway are also greatly appreciated. Drop-off hours are weekdays 7 a.m.-8 p.m. through Dec. 11. The center is located at 725 Kifer Road, Sunnyvale. All Sunnyvale fire stations also take donations for SCS seven days a week. 408-738-4298, www. svcommunityservices.org. Teen Challenge Holiday Gift Drive: is seeking new clothing, new toys, hygiene products, cleaning products and food for the men, women, teens and children in our program. Donations will be accepted at the

Teen Challenge office, 390 Matthew St., Santa Clara. 408-703-2001.

Unity Care’s Santa’s Helpers Donation Drive: uplifts 800 lonely, anxious and heartbroken foster children in our care. To ensure every youth has a gift to open, individuals and corporations can help by hosting a toy drive or holiday party. Donate unwrapped gifts for children ages 0-24 or $25 gift cards to Target or Walmart. Consider adopting and decorating one of 12 teen homes in San Jose, Los Gatos, Daly City, South San Francisco or Foster City. 408-971-9822. Donations also can be made online at www.unitycare.org. West Valley Community

Services: its mission is to unite the community to fight hunger and homelessness. This holiday season, we need your help. We need donations of nonperishable foods including meals-in-acan (stew, chili, soup), tuna, canned meat, peanut butter, canned foods with pop-top lids, low-sugar cereals, 100 percent fruit juices in singleserving boxes, canned fruit, canned vegetables, diapers (3T, 4T and pull-ups), feminine hygiene products and gift cards. Donations may be dropped off at 10104 Vista Drive in Cupertino. Holiday volunteer and donation opportunities are also available. 408-956-6115, www. wvcommunityservices.org.

Yu-Ai Kai: a multiservice nonprofit senior community center located in San Jose’s Japantown, is seeking gift cards, packaged batteries, individually wrapped toilet paper, individually wrapped paper towel rolls, dish soap, Kleenex, toothpaste, toothbrushes, T-shirts, 40- or 60-watt light bulbs (energy-efficient preferred) and Brita water filters to be given out to our seniors. Donations can be dropped off at 588 N. Fourth St., San Jose, CA 95112, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, contact Julie Hubbard at staff@yuaikai. org and 408-294-2505; website: yuaikai.org

The Peninsula

Christmas Bureau of Palo

Alto: is a nondenominational and nonprofit organization. It helps bring the joys of the season by providing monetary assistance to over 3,400 individuals comprised of lowincome families, seniors and adults. The checks are used by recipients to meet their individual needs. Please help us continue the joy of giving to those who need assistance. Send your tax-deductible check to: Christmas Bureau of Palo Alto, P.O. Box 51874, Palo Alto, CA 94303 or donate through Pay Pal. www.

christmasbureauofpaloalto.org. Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos: needs gifts and/or gift cards for teens, food donations, and volunteers to help provide holiday spirit to hundreds of families in the community. Donations can be delivered 9 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. weekdays at 204 Stierlin Road, Mountain View. 650-968-0836, www.csacares.org.

Ecumenical Hunger Program: 2411 Pulgas Ave., East Palo Alto, is in need of help for the holidays. We can use donations of cash, gift cards from local department and grocery stores and teen gifts for underprivileged families in East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The agency also needs volunteers. Donations can be made not just for the holidays but also throughout the year as the number of people in need increases. Food items such as turkeys, ham and chicken are welcome. Please mail or drop off donations, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays through Dec. 22. We also will be open Dec. 16 and 17. Contact LaKesha at 650-323-7781, or go to www.ehpcares.org. Peninsula Healthcare Connection: is a state licensed medical clinic holistically serving homeless and lowincome individuals in North Santa Clara County. PHC provides integrated primary, preventative, and mental health care free of charge to community members who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Financial donations are greatly appreciated this holiday season. Your gift ensures PHC can continue to provide these services year-round. For more information, contact Eileen Richardson at Eileen@ peninsulahcc.org; website peninsulahcc.org.

Rebuilding Together Peninsula: transforms lives by providing critical repairs, accessibility modifications and energy-efficient upgrades to low-income homes and community centers at no cost to service recipients in San Mateo County and northern Santa Clara County. Over the next year, we will be serving 130 homeowners through the year-round Safe at Home minor home repair program, 40-50 homeowners and 20-30 community facilities through the National Rebuilding Day program in the spring, and another 8-10 homeowners and community facilities through the summer/fall Team Build program. We are located at 841 Kaynyne St., Redwood City. To donate or volunteer, contact 650-366-6597, website www.rebuildingtogetherpeninsula.org.