Friends of Grace: A refuge in a troubled world needs help
Nonprofit helping disabled community looks to close digital gap for its clients
For nearly 50 years, the Grace Art and Wellness program has been a refuge and community for mentally ill and developmentally disabled San Jose residents.
It’s offered these folks therapy, a place to talk and gather support through life’s troubles.
But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the program was forced to shut down its Japantown office, leaving dozens of troubled residents without their regular lifeline
“The typical person on the street says, ‘Look at that guy talking to himself,” said Ari Capogeannis, president of the nonprofit, Friends of Grace. “These people
need help.”
The community center, funded by the city of San Jose with additional support from the nonprofit, wants to bridge the gap between clients and the community during the pandemic with a Silicon Valley solution — better technology for poor residents to reconnect
with friends and social workers.
T he San Jose- based nonprofit wants to build a new, digital bridge to its clients, many. of whom are indigent or homeless. With $10,000 in donations, Friends of Grace will purchase 40 tablets and loan them out to
members of this vulnerable community, allowing them to reconnect to community meetings, exercise and art classes, and therapy sessions otherwise missed during the health crisis.
“For this population, there is no family center anymore,” said Capogeannis. “These people, left to their own devices, don’t do well.”
Before the pandemic, Grace Art and Wellness spent its limited resources on food and clothing drives, providing holiday meals and distributing hoodies and cold-weather gear for homeless members. The nonprofit also arranged day trips for small groups of its members, often hiking through parks or taking photo safaris around San Jose.
The city and a cadre of volunteers have been building the Grace community since 1971. The out-patient facility came after the closing of the institutional mental health facility, Agnews Developmental Center, and answered the need for new support services for people with developmental disabilities and mental illness.
Before the pandemic, Friends of Grace served between 70 and 90 clients a day, six days a week.
Programs focused on helping clients develop life skills, self- esteem and coping with the sometimes debilitating affects of mental illness. The programs include personal wellness through art therapy, yoga and classes for physical fitness and weight training.
“Grace is like my second home,” said Mercy Wong, 65, who has been going to programs for two decades. “I wouldn’t know what I would do without the Grace community.”
Wong, who is developmentally disabled and was once homeless, has found an apartment in Campbell with the nonprofit’s assistance. She misses her friends, workers and activities — from field trips to dancing to watching movies. “I miss all of that,” Wong said. “I’m feeling very lonely without Grace.”
The facility closed in mid-march, and only conducts limited, take- out meal services.
Meetings that once held 20 to 25 people at their offices now draw about half the number online. Even those numbers have been a stretch to reach — some clients are in group homes, sharing computers, while others have older mobile phones unable to join video meetings. “A lot of our members don’t have adequate technology,” said Morace Mckay, recreation supervisor of the center.
Some don’t always have access to phones, and continue to show up at the Friends of Grace parking lot to check-in on their friends and staffers.
In February, the center organized a trip for about 15 clients to see the Lakers
Kings basketball game in Sacramento. The city provided two vans for transportation, while the nonprofit picked up the tab for the tickets and snacks.
Mckay drove one of the vans, and was surprised to see so few members sleeping on the way back from the night game in Sacramento. He asked them why they were staring outside at the trees and highway signs.
“This is our first time out of San Jose,” about a dozen told Mckay. “We don’t want to miss a moment.”
Reggie Howard, 65, joined the community about three years ago. He started attending programs once a week, but soon became a daily visitor.
Howard has immersed himself in art therapy — he’s discovered a talent for sketching cartoons and his hero, Kobe Bryant. “It’s such a joyful place,” said Howard, who has found an apartment in San Jose after several years of homelessness. “Grace is almost like a necessity.”