Town Crier Holiday Fund recipients brandish the checks that will enable them to help the community’s less fortunate. Pictured from left are: (back row) Monique Kane, Sandy Perry, Jim Boin, Tom Myers, Andy Hartwell, Beth Walker, Emily Johnson, Ann Leahy Jones, Barbara Susco, Julie Mahowald, Monika Churchill; (front) Lee Terry, Jean Cecil, Janis Baron, Michael Hobson and Oneida Branch. The group represents 12 of 13 non-profit organizations targeted by the fund.

Representatives from 13 non-profit organizations visited the Town Crier offices March 10 to share success stories and receive grants from the 2005 Town Crier Holiday Fund. The holiday fund raised $151,445 all of which goes directly to the selected recipients.

In addition to celebrating some of 2005’s advances, those who attended spoke of the challenges that community support helps them face.

Oneida “Mother” Branch, who has run East Palo Alto Community Services for more than 50 years, thanked all donors to the holiday fund and said how important their support still is.

“By now I thought things would be getting better in East Palo Alto. They aren’t,” she said.

Sandy Perry of the Community Homeless Alliance Ministry in San Jose told how his organization has adjusted to the construction of the new city hall next to its homeless shelter, and said that the program is still “going strong.” He added, “We teach people how to love each other and how to build community. We’re patient. We don’t give up on people.” The shelter houses 12 families, or about 50 people every night.

Leslie Williams-Hurt of the Community Foundation Silicon Valley, the fiscal agent for the fund, handed out checks to the representatives. As well as distributing funding and celebrating the end of a successful season, the holiday fund party gives groups an opportunity for groups to network and hear from experts in the field of non-profit fund-raising. Williams-Hurt and Audrey Struve of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation spoke about trends and techniques in grant-writing and answered questions.

Jean Cecil, executive director of the Career Closet, reported the organization’s newest fund-raising venture, a weekend sale of donated boutique women’s wear that netted $10,000 for the program in two days.

Janis Baron of Sunday Friends said that after a year of reorganizing the program, they now plan to expand the number of days they are open each month. The program serves nearly 200 families each year, including roughly 800 children.

“We want to break the cycle of poverty - take children and parents out of their role as charity cases,” Baron said. “(At Sunday Friends) they can earn the things they need and want.”

The Community Health Awareness Council has added new programming this year, according to executive director Monique Kane. The non-profit provides counseling on 23 local school campuses and serves 2,000 children a year on a regular basis. Kane described the successful bilingual program that helps both English- and Spanish-speaking parents communicate with their children.

Emily Johnson of the Challenge Learning Center reported that the Holiday Fund money has created stability for the center’s programming at Alta Vista High School. Students are trained in leadership and team building, then lead their classmates in activities. April 5 the students will demonstrate their skills by leading a group of community members through a series of team-building physical challenges.

The Town Crier Holiday Fund was launched last November with challenge grants from the 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, the Everlasting Private Foundation and the Carl and Vickie Warden Foundation.