By Eliza Ridgeway
 Pete Fullerton, right, and Antony and Susanna Raj distribute gifts to low-income families at the Moffett Hotel. |
Donors to the Town Crier Holiday Fund, now in its sixth year, have pledged $80,0000 in matching funds to encourage more people to contribute. Thanks to the challenge grant, each dollar given is doubled.
Those who provided challenge grants in the past are returning this year: Steve and Michele Kirsch Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Skoll Community Fund, Rambus Inc., Charles and Nan Geschke Foundation, William and Gay Krause Foundation, Los Altos resident Ed Dowd and Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, and a new matching fund donor, Everlasting Private Foundation.
This week, the Town Crier profiles four local non-profit agencies that bring hope to neighbors in trouble, in the form of a bus pass, a job-interview outfit or simply a sympathetic ear.
Community Homeless Alliance Ministry
“We work not just to take care of people’s needs, but to address the root causes of the problem,” outreach director Sandy Perry said. “We feel housing is a human right, and society as a whole needs to take care of that issue.”
The emergency shelter at the church opens each evening with food provided from the Second Harvest foodbank, and clients are able to cook for themselves. There are evening counseling and Bible study programs, and Altamont Counseling Center is helping to start a parenting class in January.
Mother Branch
“Over Thanksgiving it was rough, rough, rough, but I made it through,” Branch said. “I think the disasters really put a damping on our help here. I need money, I need food, I need turkeys and hams, gift cards for Albertsons and Safeway.
“I’m not tired, I’m encouraged,” she said after describing the need she sees in her community. “I’m 87 years old - (but) I don’t look like it, I don’t work like it.”
Career Closet
“It’s so much more than just giving people clothes,” said executive director Jean Cecil. “It’s teaching them how to put clothes together, put the best foot forward.”
When a client arrives, she spends an hour with a volunteer dresser picking out a complete interview outfit, suit, blouse, shoes, nylons and even a purse. The client leaves with a week’s worth of clothing for the start of a new job.
The 14-year-old program advertises by word of mouth and gets clothing through donations from women in the area. The Closet receives over 500,000 pieces of clothing a year.
“We always need clothes, especially tiny and plus sizes,” Cecil said. The program’s two “closets,” in San Jose and Foster City, served more than 1,500 women last year.
A typical client has either been on welfare, never had a job, or been unemployed for a significant time. Most women are in their mid-20s or 30s and make less than $10,000 a year.
“They are so much fun, these ladies. Sometimes they think they don’t have anything to offer,” Cecil said.
“Then you start talking to them and it’s just so fascinating to listen to their stories. Helping them to just get the self-esteem - a lot of times that’s all they need.”
Truck of Love
“It incorporates everything I do, all my talents,” Fullerton said. His work is not affiliated with any church, although he and his wife are Christians.
Fullerton said that his most important work is his verbal ministry. “I lend an ear.
“The people out there need a handle to grab onto, something to pull their lives together,” Fullerton said.
“But we do give food and help with housing and a little bit with furniture and clothing.”
In urban San Jose, an undeveloped area of Guadalupe Creek has become an unofficial encampment for many homeless people and families. Fullerton works there as well as in shelters and on the street.
“Down there they don’t get molested as much,” Fullerton explained. “It’s quiet, it’s kind of overgrown.” He estimated that there are 7,200 people in the county living without homes.
The Truck of Love has an annual budget of $150,000, and Fullerton said he makes only $500 a month. “I’m a kept man,” he joked, because his wife still works in a more conventional job.
Simply handing out quarters for people to do their washing can add up to hundreds of dollars a month, in addition to supplying emergency rent or funds to turn the gas back on.
Other Town Crier Holiday Fund recipients are: Sunday Friends; East Palo Alto Kids Foundation; Community Services Agency Dental Voucher Program; Help One Child; Community Health Awareness Council; Challenge Learning Center; Hidden Villa camperships; Bayshore Christian Ministries; and Downtown College Preparatory.
The value of each donation is enhanced by the Town Crier, which is absorbing all overhead and administrative costs. One hundred percent of each donation goes into the fund for disbursement to the organizations.
The Community Foundation Silicon Valley is the fiscal agent for the Town Crier Holiday Fund. It provides the tax-deductible status for the fund. Each contribution to the Town Crier Holiday Fund will be acknowledged as a 501(c)(3) gift.
Checks should be made payable to Town Crier Holiday Fund and sent to 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022. Credit card contributions can be handled by phone. Call Leverne at 948-9000.
