A publication of the Bay Area News Group
YOUR DONATION COUNTS Help make our community a better place by giving to families and groups that face significant challenges. Together we can make sure that no wish goes unfulfilled this holiday season.
2 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
WELCOME TO SHARE THE SPIRIT 2021
Dear Readers: In challenging times, every action creates momentum that brings about progress and new hope. Join us in ringing in the 2021 season of Share the Spirit, the annual East Bay Times holiday fundraiser. Generosity, compassion, determination and creativity are just a few of the qualities that stand out this year. Even in a time of continual change, people work to make a difference. This is startlingly clear in the Share the Spirit stories published each holiday season. As a community newspaper and as local residents, we are eager to help improve the lives of others and make dreams come true with help from readers. Your gift, whatever the size, fulfills a dream that can help transform someone’s life. These holiday stories and your help have been improving lives since 1994, addressing hopes and desires from some of the least fortunate among us. The East Bay Times serves the residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties by funding real-time assistance to those in need through nonprofit organizations. Last season, readers donated a record-breaking amount of nearly $500,000, and for that we are so grateful. We know you care about your community. If you are able to help others this year, here is what you can do. Donations may be made online at sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate, or checks can be made out to “Share the Spirit Fund” and mailed to Share the Spirit, P.O. Box 3491, Walnut Creek, CA 94598. Contributions of all sizes are welcome and are tax-deductible. One way to enhance the effect of your gift is to use your company’s matching donation program, if it has one. Your human resources department should be able to help with forms, and we are happy to assist with needed information. Your donations will always stay in the East Bay to make your community a better place to live for those going through tough times. Thank you for your generosity and for being a part of the East Bay Times family. Happy Holidays! Sharon Ryan, Publisher P.S.: The goal in 2021 is to keep the momentum going. It’s been a year of great heights and challenging lows, but with your help we can rise up and enable more community members to thrive.
ON THE COVER
Ametiszt Hajdu, of Pleasant Hill, holds her daughter Adelynn Island, 4, at Matteo’s Dream Playground in Concord where Hajdu slept during a period of homelessness in 2012. Winter Nights Family Shelter helped her find an apartment and provided services. Read her story on Page 22. JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
My gift of $
is enclosed.
Name (Please print): Address: Phone: (
City, state and ZIP code
)
Email: PAYMENT ❑ Check (payable to: Share The Spirit)
❑ Credit card
Please do not send cash
Credit card:
CVC:
Signature: Mail gift to:
Exp.: Share the Spirit Fund c/o East Bay Times P.O. Box 3491 Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Contributions: Tax-deductible donations of any amount are welcome. Tax ID: 77-0229665
SHOWING OUR GRATITUDE
❑ Yes ❑ No Include my name on published donor list. ❑ Include a dedication to a person, cause, or group (optional) ❑ In honor ❑ In memory of: To donate online visit: sharethespiriteastbay.org
For questions, stock or legacy gifts, information: 925-655-8355
sharethespirit@ bayareanewsgroup.com Thank you!
Scan to give now
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 3
Berkeley Food and Housing Project
VETERAN GETS HELP, FINDS STABILITY
JANE TYSKA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Joseph Augustine, now 61, holds a photo of himself as a young man in the Navy during a visit with Cedric Winston at his Richmond apartment. Augustine found housing with help from the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. “They supported me, they did everything,” he said.
By Harry Harris hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com
Joseph Augustine knows what it is like to hit rock bottom. Traumatized by his stint in the U.S. Navy in the early 1980s — where he said he experienced extreme racism and physical and mental abuse and was denied the opportunity to attend a financial school because he is Black — the now 61-year-old Richmond resident avoided contacting Veterans Affairs for more than three decades during which he became homeless and broke. “I was homeless, living out of my car. I was really down and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it,” he said. But finally inspired by his beloved fiancée, who died earlier this year from cancer, he reached out to the VA in Martinez in 2017, initiating assistance that continues to this day. The VA referred him to the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, whose Roads Home program has been supporting veterans and their families since 2011. He is now classified as a disabled veteran and through the VA and the Roads Home project has a social worker and is receiving medical assistance. He’s also gotten the financial benefits he is entitled to. The Berkeley Food and Housing Project serves approximately 2,000 to 3,000 clients annually, which includes about 1,000 veterans. The organization is providing two years of rental assistance as Augustine builds the financial stability necessary to live independently. “I am very happy with my life,” Augustine said. “(The Berkeley Food and Housing Project) helped me get off the streets. They brought me food, found me a home. They supported me; they did everything. Whatever I needed they came through for me.”
4 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By George Avalos gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com
Carolyn Sharp is grateful that Berkeley Food Network has embarked on a dynamic quest during the COVID-19 pandemic: end hunger in the iconic East Bay city. “The Berkeley Food Network is a main artery for this neighborhood,” said Sharp, who lives around the corner from the pantry near the corner of Ninth Street and University Avenue. “It’s a lifeline. People come here not just from Berkeley, but from Richmond and Oakland.” In February 2020, before extensive business shutdowns to combat the coronavirus, Berkeley Food Network was serving about 1,500 clients a week in its various programs. By May 2020, that number had climbed to about 5,000 people a week, said Sara Webber, the nonprofit’s executive director and cofounder. It also expanded its on-site pantry in the company’s home base on Ninth Street. “When COVID hit, most of the people who were adversely affected by the job cuts and layoffs came to our pantry,” Webber said. “That has become one of our biggest programs. We probably serve 70 families a day now at the pantry. We used to serve 30 a day.” Hiring appears to be on a modest upswing in the Bay Area and California, but that doesn’t mean the need for food assistance has vanished. “People who went back to work may still be struggling to get back on their feet, or they have jobs that were not as good as the ones they had, or their benefits may be reduced,” Webber said. “We are trying really hard to make sure that everyone is treated with dignity when they are using one of our programs.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Berkeley Food Network
BATTLING HUNGER IN THE COVID ERA
ARIC CRABB — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Edie Quinby, left, of Church of the Good Shepherd, and Sonny Pritchett, Berkeley Food Network warehouse operations manager, load a pallet with food items in Berkeley. The Berkeley Food Network helps about 5,000 people in the East Bay each week.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 5
Beyond Emancipation
FINDING A LIFELINE AFTER FOSTER CARE
RAY CHAVEZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jessica Mi, 21, on campus at Stanford University where she’s working on her master’s degree in Earth Systems. Mi, who struggled at Castro Valley High School after shuttling between foster homes, found help at Beyond Emancipation with finances, coaching and emotional support.
By Peter Hegarty phegarty@bayareanewsgroup.com
Jessica Mi is 21 years old, has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and can boast that she’s now working on securing a master’s degree from that elite institution. Not so long ago, Mi’s prospects looked bleak: She was moving between foster homes in Castro Valley and Hayward. Then, when she was 17, Mi was living on her own, struggling to make it through Castro Valley High School. Mi turned to Beyond Emancipation, an Oakland nonprofit familiarly known as “B.E.” It assists youth who have come from the foster-care or probation systems as they move into adulthood and independent living. The organization paid for her textbooks at Stanford. It gave her money to fuel her car. But she also got life coaching and emotional support as she grew from a teenager to an adult — and moved from Castro Valley and began studying on the leafy grounds of the Stanford campus. In Alameda County, between 300 and 400 young people leave foster care annually, according to Beyond Emancipation’s website. With little education, few job skills, and often physical and mental health struggles, they are at risk for homelessness, substance abuse, unintended pregnancy and incarceration. “I do not want this to come across as a sob story about me,” Mi said about Beyond Emancipation. “I’m doing OK. I’m a thriving, independent person. I hope that’s what people will take away from this. That in the end, what I have gone through is positive and I am moving forward. And that others in the same situation will feel the same, too.”
6 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Shomik Mukherjee smukherjee@ bayareanewsgroup.com
During a recent stroll through the large warehouse that Civicorps calls its headquarters and where so many fledgling adults find a way out of life’s setbacks, Jasmine Lagunas, 21, realized that she will soon need to leave. “I really don’t want to go,” Lagunas tells Libbie Hodas, a manager at the nonprofit that has helped struggling young adults pick up paid work experience, complete their education and get back on their feet. Hodas reminds Lagunas that Civicorps is just a career-training program and at some point everyone must move on from there. In Lagunas’ case, that time is now. She has ambitions of becoming a registered nurse, and her masterful use of chainsaws and pole saws — learned through Civicorps’ extensive training programs — could get her much needed income until she achieves her goal. The skill building and work opportunities offered by Oakland-based Civicorps are designed for those who dropped out of high school or stumbled into tough times. Founded in 1983, the nonprofit finds clients through word-of-mouth and focuses on environmental work through a network of conservation corps across California. When she first arrived there, Lagunas was temporarily homeless and broke. Nursing school was on hold for what seemed forever. But she quickly noticed how open and personable her coworkers and manager were, willing to talk about their lives and give her enough space to contemplate life’s challenges. “Everybody just lets everything loose,” Lagunas said. “They don’t even care. There’s no filter; we’re just going to talk like nothing.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Civicorps
LIFE SKILLS GROW WITH WORK SKILLS
JANE TYSKA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jasmine Lagunas, 21, received free job training at the Oakland nonprofit Civicorps, skills she hopes to use to support herself while she works toward her ambition of becoming a registered nurse. The program helped Lagunas, who had been homeless, get back on her feet.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 7
Contra Costa Crisis Center
COMFORTING OTHERS IN A SHARED GRIEF
ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Contra Costa Crisis Center volunteers Steve Grimes, left, and Ann Khadalia, with photos of the children each lost to tragic events. Grimes and Khadalia, who worked through their grief with help from the crisis center more than 20years ago, now assist others dealing with loss.
By Rick Hurd rhurd@bayareanewsgroup.com
Ann Khadalia and Steve Grimes interact with each other with a sometimes remarkable ease, occasionally finishing each other’s sentences or reminding the other of yet another story to tell. They speak easily and reflect often. They still can smile, and when the moment hits, they can laugh, too. “Believe it or not,” Grimes said, “you can get through this.” Still, as they stand together outside the offices of the Contra Costa Crisis Center in Walnut Creek, holding a window into their souls — pictures of Steve’s late son, Kevin, and Ann’s late daughter, Priya — the dark cloud of pain is never far beyond the horizon. They’re thankful it’s just not raining sadness anymore. Grimes and Khadalia are close today because their respective paths connected and went through the Contra Costa Crisis Center following the deaths of their children more than 20 years ago. Kevin Grimes, who was almost 16, collapsed while on a Boy Scout outing with his dad near Kirkwood Mountain Resort in March 1996 and never regained consciousness. Three years later, Priya Khadalia, 5, was hit and killed by an unlicensed driver of a car that ran a red light at a Hayward intersection. Their parents now volunteer on the same grief support teams that helped them survive the worst nightmare they’ve ever encountered. “We don’t try to be therapists,” said Grimes. “We listen. We’re empathetic. We ask open-minded questions. We have a conversation, and we try to find a connection.”
8 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Paula Hamilton Correspondent
K. Leigh Alfrey was 3 months old in 1985 when she, her parents and older sister moved to the Bay Area from Southern California. One reason for the move was there were no organizations down south that provided direct services for children, like her, who had Down syndrome. Her mother, Layne, discovered a robust community in the East Bay supporting families with a child with Down syndrome and quickly joined a young mothers’ support group. “They provided us with a wealth of information and guidance, a place to talk, share ideas and best practices. We gained a real sense of security knowing we were part of a community and weren’t walking alone,” said Layne Alfrey. As K. Leigh grew, the Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area, located in Danville, provided help navigating the developmental delays associated with the genetic disorder, including exercises to boost low muscle tone, and classes to improve gross and fine motor skills. K. Leigh went to public school and was in full inclusion classes from kindergarten through high school. In fourth grade, K. Leigh brought home a permission slip from school and told her parents that she wanted to learn to play the clarinet. K. Leigh loves playing so much that her mother never has to tell her to practice. At 36, K. Leigh is bright-eyed, happy, full of life and confident. “I’m the bravest person,” she declared.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area
FINDING SECURITY WITHIN A COMMUNITY
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
K. Leigh Alfrey, 36, of Walnut Creek, and her family have been part of the Down Syndrome Connection network since K. Leigh was a baby. The organization provides guidance to families with a Down syndrome child. K. Leigh, who learned to play clarinet in fourth grade, is still making music.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 9
East Bay Children’s Law Offices
GIVING A LEGAL VOICE TO FOSTER YOUTH
DYLAN BOUSCHER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Aleja Stephenson, 21, shown with her two French bulldogs in Corcord, connected with the East Bay Children’s Law Offices when she was in the foster system. She now works as an Alameda County youth advocate and volunteers for the law offices that were there for her as a teen.
By Joseph Geha jgeha@bayareanewsgroup.com
For almost Aleja Stephenson’s entire life, people she should have been able to trust were the ones who let her down the hardest, who hurt her the most. She was born to a teen mother who was addicted to drugs and had been incarcerated, and who then left. Though Stephenson was soon adopted, life with her adopted family was hard. She said she felt like she was never fully accepted, and sometimes she felt afraid. But Stephenson, now 21, has long been her own strongest advocate. After her adoptive parents gave her up at 15, she chose to re-enter the foster system. Roxanne Romell, the managing attorney at Oakland-based East Bay Children’s Law Offices, subbed in for Stephenson’s attorney one day. Stephenson said Romell embraced the organization’s motto that children should be seen and heard, and they hit it off quickly. “She shocked me when she used to come to my house and visit me,” Stephenson said. “She became like my sidekick. When I needed help, she was always there for me. Even for things that didn’t end up in the courtroom, she was still there giving me advice, guiding me.” Stephenson’s now working as a youth advocate for Alameda County. And she’s volunteering with the children’s law offices as part of a newly formed youth advisory board, which is putting together a survey for some of the roughly 1,300 foster youth represented by the organization. “Youth should be able to feel like I feel with my lawyer,” Stephenson said. “They should be able to have that connection.”
10 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Jon Becker jbecker@bayareanewsgroup.com
Having your own home may be the American dream, but it wasn’t the kind of dream Luis “Nacho” Nava was chasing more than 30 years ago when he stuffed his belongings into a suitcase before boarding a bus in Mexico City bound for Los Angeles. Tucked inside that bulging suitcase was the key to his life’s ambition — a pair of roller skates. He was sure those skates he wore while becoming one of Mexico’s top artistic roller skaters in the 1980s would also lead him to an even better life in America. Nava’s aspirations, though, veered off track long ago. “I never expected to be homeless,” the now 56-yearold said softly. As he spoke, Nava was surrounded by others at Livermore’s Goodness Village with similar tales. They’ve each found an actual permanent home to rent in this new “tiny house” community consisting of 28 small houses built on unused Crosswinds Church property. Their homes are equipped with a sleeping area, restroom, shower and kitchenette all fitting inside their houses measuring just 160 to 200 square feet. To the thankful residents, it’s no small miracle they have a place to call their own. “It’s like you don’t fit in with society,” said John Clarkin, a 46-year-old vet who had been homeless for five years before landing at Goodness Village in August. “People looked down on you. I had dirty clothes and always wore my backpack. I looked homeless. Businesses don’t want me using their bathrooms. There was no place to shower. Cops were always hassling me. … But now? I’ve got a home, and it’s great.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Goodness Village
‘TINY HOME’ A BIG STEP TO NORMALCY
PHOTO BY ALYSIA MICHAUD
Luis “Nacho” Nava, 56, lives at Goodness Village, a community of 28“tiny homes” in Livermore. The community, built on property owned by Crosswinds Church, provides stability for people who have been homeless for more than a year. “I never expected to be homeless,” Nava said.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 11
Hijas del Campo
GIVING BACK TO AID FARMWORKERS
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Hijas del Campo co-founder Amelia Villarreal, of Santa Clara, delivers groceries to the Brentwood home of Trenidad Lopez. Villarreal’s organization has grown from an effort to feed migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Now the group also offers rent assistance and brings vaccine clinics to farms.
By Jesse Bedayn jbedayn@bayareanewsgroup.com
Ximena Perez remembers the day she was packing corn in a sweltering east Contra Costa County packaging plant. The lamination process to seal the grain made the warehouse feel like an oven. “Sometimes the main boss pressures us to work a lot faster,” she said, “but with the heat, you just can’t.” Then, a caravan of cars and trucks arrived, and Perez watched as women and children piled out and scrambled around the vehicles, unloading hamburgers, water and ice cold lemonade. They were Hijas del Campo, or Daughters of the Field, a group created by four working mothers who had met in early 2020 with a shared generational history: their parents or grandparents had toiled under the same heat as Perez to give their children a step up in the United States. This was their way to give back, said Marivel Mendoza, the organization’s co-founder and president. What started as a guerrilla effort early in the pandemic to hydrate and feed farm workers grew to include rent relief, food deliveries, and even pop-up vaccine clinics on farms from Pittsburg to Byron. Perez, a seasonal farm worker and mother of three daughters, had never received support from an outside organization. But on that day, the talkative women and children from Hijas flooded the packaging plant’s ranks, asking how best they could help. “When we pay our rent and all the bills,” Perez said, “our salary sometimes isn’t enough for food three times a day.”
12 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Rowena Gonden Correspondent
Mac Coates’ cheerfulness is infectious despite a genetic eye disease that robbed him of his sight as a young man, leaving him in permanent darkness. When he moved to Pittsburg in 2008 and was looking for an organization that offered social activities for the blind, Coates was referred to the Lions Center for the Visually Impaired. During his tour of the Pittsburg facility he stopped by an exercise class, an arts and crafts session, and a course whimsically named “Cooking Without Looking.” He was sold. “I’m happy because I’ve learned how to use my independent living skills. I’m glad I can do things for myself,” said the 71-year-old Pittsburg resident. The organization offers free eyeglasses for those with mild vision loss as well as screenings at nursing homes and senior centers. Along with exams, participants can get on-the-spot diagnoses of disorders such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts. Employees will visit homes to reconfigure the space so that clients are less likely to bump into furniture. They also might apply raised buttons to flat surfaces like the number pad of a microwave or landline phone so clients can use them more easily. Coates has served on Lions Center’s board of directors for years, assuming the unofficial role of cheerleader for those who recently have lost their sight. “A lot of them are not positive, some of them are bitter,” Coates said. “I let them know there’s life after blindness. I can relate to people with similar problems. I encourage them to take independent living skills training … to get involved in something that will get them out of the house.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Lions Center for the Visually Impaired
‘THERE’S LIFE AFTER BLINDNESS’
DYLAN BOUSCHER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mac Coates, 71, practices weekly tai chi exercises via a Zoom call arranged through the Lions Center for the Visually Impaired in Pittsburg. Coates, who lost his sight as a young man because of a genetic eye disease, gained independent living skills through the Lions Center.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 13
Meals on Wheels Diablo Region
NOURISHING BODY AND SOUL
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Volunteer Rosalyn Heater serves salads to Joey Rodriguez, of Antioch, left, and Jess Segovia, of Pittsburg, at Cafe Costa at the Pittsburg Senior Center in Pittsburg. Cafe Costa’s meals for seniors are sponsored by Meals on Wheels Diablo Region three times a week.
By Nate Gartrell ngartrell@ bayareanewsgroup.com
At least once a week for the last 14 years, 86-year-old Joe Rubi has been greeted at his Pittsburg home by a friendly visitor bearing gifts, such as beef, chicken, pasta, salad and bread. The Meals on Wheels food is never accompanied by seasoning, since each client has different dietary restrictions, but it does come with a friendly smile, conversation and check-in. For Rubi, a retired naval shipyard machinist and Korean War veteran who loves to socialize, the visits are just as much about the people he meets as the nourishment. “The ladies are special; they take time to talk to their clients and see how it’s going. That type of interaction, it strikes home to me,” Rubi said. “God bless ’em.” The five frozen meals Rubi receives weekly are among the half a million served annually by the Meals on Wheels Diablo Region, which provides roughly 6,700 seniors per year with more than just food. Other services offered by the organization range from exercise programs to social interaction to fall prevention, where volunteers will install grab bars and railings to help their clients live independently for a little longer. Seniors with more mobility can attend café-style luncheons Monday through Wednesday at the Pittsburg Senior Center, which recently reopened. “We match volunteers with seniors who may not have anyone else in their lives,” said Executive Director Caitlin Sly. “We try to have a whole host of different programs and services that we offer to address many of the health needs our seniors have.”
14 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Shayna Rubin srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com
The pandemic forced everyone into the confines of their home. For Kristen, Jesus and their four young children, 3 to 7, home is a moss green Ford Expedition SUV. For more than a year, most of the family’s time has been spent in that vehicle, either asleep or trekking up and down Vasco Road. At the crack of dawn, they’re off to Livermore to drop off Jesus at his job at Block by Block, then to Antioch for school drop-off. After school, Kristen heads back to Livermore to run errands, run around the park and pick up Jesus before 7 p.m., when they head to Pleasanton where Kristen starts her overnight job at a hotel. The family did not want to use their last name. “Home is where we make it right now,” said Kristen, 29. “When we’re in the car, we are home. That’s what we’ve been telling them for years.” With limited funds and no kitchen, the family has relied on Open Heart Kitchen, a Livermore organization that operates a free meal service that has become a curbside service for the unhoused and seniors in the Tri-Valley area. In 2021 alone, Open Heart Kitchen has served more than 1.2 million meals. It’s a small operation with three full-time employees and three volunteers working to provide up to four meals per person each day. It also offers a friendly face. “For some of the seniors, the food isn’t even 50% of it,” said Charlie Mabie, a food distribution assistant at Open Heart. “They’re missing the human contact. I have a lady that comes through every day who has tremors. She’s in her 80s, can’t sew anymore and lives alone. She comes by and sometimes I hold her hand for a minute out of the car.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Open Heart Kitchen
OFFERING FOOD AND A FRIENDLY FACE
ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jesus, Kristen and their four young children call their Ford Expedition home and rely on Open Heart Kitchen’s curbside food distribution for their meals. The small Livermore organization already has served more than 1.2 million meals this year to seniors and homeless in the Tri-Valley area.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 15
Options Recovery Services
HEALING THROUGH ART, CREATIVITY
ARIC CRABB — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Samuel McFarland, a former client at Options Recovery Services in Berkeley, is shown with artwork created by students in his Recovery through the Arts program at Options. His art classes offer those in treatment a tangible way to externalize emotions and feelings, McFarland says.
By Annie Sciacca asciacca@ bayareanewsgroup.com
When Samuel McFarland entered a treatment program for addiction in July 2018, he turned to his sketch pad. He had always been into drawing, even as a kid, but it wasn’t something he had ever pursued full time. Life was too busy — he played sports, went to college and later worked as a firefighter. But when his drug addiction ultimately brought him to Options Recovery Services in Berkeley, a multi-service treatment center for people suffering from addiction, he learned to tap into his creativity. “There was a sketch pad and a pencil, and it was like a lost dream awakened,” McFarland said. “Whenever there was anything going on, it was beneficial to sketch. I think there is something healing about being able to externalize feelings, emotions.” McFarland, while volunteering in the organization’s development department, illustrated a series of drawings to depict what the 12 steps of recovery looked like for him. That art, turned into a calendar, led to creation of the Recovery Through the Arts program at Options. Now, McFarland is helping support others in treatment achieve a similar healing through art, teaching art classes for clients and supporting the publication and distribution of their artwork through annual calendars, newsletters and social media. It’s “one of the coolest things I’ve had in my life,” he said. “To have people say, ‘I’ve never done something like that,’ it’s almost magical. It’s a beautiful thing.”
16 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Paula Hamilton Correspondent
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County, a nonprofit organization that builds community and supports well-being among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning and Intersex (LGBTQI+) people, saw a drastic increase in desperate young people in crisis who reached out needing services. One of those young adults, who felt unsafe sequestered at home, is a young person in the process of legally changing his name to Jay Starling. The 21-year-old has three older brothers. Starling says his parents really wanted a daughter, so the whole family was thrilled when their fourth child was a girl. But since age 7, Starling says his birth gender never felt right. He came out as bisexual a few years ago, but that didn’t seem right either. After much soulsearching, Starling made the difficult decision to transition from young female to male. His family didn’t understand and couldn’t accept his changing gender identity. In October 2020 his therapist connected him with Rasheeda Blake, youth housing program director for the Rainbow Community Center. “I needed to be in a supportive place where people understood and validated me,” Starling said. “I didn’t get that at home. I felt unsafe and had to leave. Through Rainbow, I was able to create my own little community of people who love me and who I can love.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County
AN ACCEPTING HAVEN FOR LGBTQI+ PEOPLE
RAY CHAVEZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
When he began to feel unsafe at home with his parents, Jay Starling, 21, found acceptance and help with housing at Rainbow Community Center, which offers support to members of the LGBTQI+ community. “I needed to be in a supportive place where people understood and validated me,” Starling said.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 17
Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
BUILDING TRADES, BUILDING CONFIDENCE
JANE TYSKA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Felicia Harper, left, is greeted by former co-worker Tonia Mayo near a construction site they both worked on in Berkeley. Harper graduated from the training program at Rising Sun Center for Opportunity in Oakland and now works as a member of Carpenters Union Local 713.
By George Kelly gkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com
Felicia Harper says all she needed was a chance to do something positive. When a six-week construction training program landed in her lap, it led to union membership, employment and a new outlook on life. “I heard about it from a friend that participated. She thought it would be good for me, she didn’t (have to sell it),” said Harper, 32, of Oakland. “She knew I was having a really hard time. I was looking for something, just to escape, so I was all for it.” That program was offered by Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, a nonprofit focused on economic equity and climate resilience that connects interested people into training and placement in the construction industry. A yearly program called Women Building The Bay brings in candidates and provides skills, tools and support to get hired. “When you walk into a building, you’re used to seeing it complete. You’re not used to seeing, like, the skeleton of a building,” she said. “It’s loud, there’s sparks flying, people everywhere, equipment going past. It’s overwhelming. We’ve got at least 50 pounds on our tool belts, we’ve got our hard hats and boots, and it’s 6 a.m.” Her work sends her home tired, but Harper said it has also expanded her perspective. “It’s definitely very draining and taxing on my body. I have a 9-year-old and a 12-yearold. They’re very proud of me. They love to see pictures and videos of my work and they appreciate what I’m doing.”
18 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Rowena Gonden Correspondent
The sound of trickling water as dozens of goldfish glide around an aquarium in the living room creates a soothing ambience, a stark contrast to the nearly four years of physical and emotional turmoil Rich Parker and his family have endured. The first of several crushing blows came two days after Christmas in 2017, when faulty wiring caused a fire that permanently ousted the Parkers from the Richmond home where they had lived for 24 years. Then in September 2019, their 16-year-old daughter Ashley became collateral damage in a gang-related shooting after a Friday night high school football game she attended with a group of friends. Ashley was left paralyzed from the chest down. And in late March, 59-year-old Theresa Parker suffered a brain aneurysm while working as a caretaker in a patient’s home. Surgery and seizure medications followed, along with three more visits to the emergency room. Money is tight with the $15 hourly wages that Rich and Theresa Parker earn, but the family has found help with its food bills from St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County. After spotting a food giveaway that the nonprofit had organized at St. Callistus Church in El Sobrante, where the family now lives, Theresa Parker became a regular visitor and since December has been collecting four to six bags of groceries a week from St. Vincent de Paul, according to volunteers. “We’re still alive; we’re okay,” Theresa Parker said. “God is taking care of me, of my family. (He) said ‘I will not give you anything you can’t handle.’ ”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County
STRUGGLING FAMILY FINDS A SAFETY NET
DYLAN BOUSCHER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Theresa Parker, left, hugs Brian Boyle from St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County at the Parker family’s El Sobrante backyard. After a series of health and housing crises that lead to financial problems, the Parker family turned to the nonprofit for weekly food assistance.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 19
Swords to Plowshares
DISABLED VETERAN BACK ON HIS FEET
JANE TYSKA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Navy veteran Luis Lujan, who now works as a disabled veteran outreach program specialist, sought help from Swords to Plowshares when his disability payments couldn’t cover rent. The organization found him a place to live and also offered rental assistance.
By Gabriel Greschler ggreschler@ bayareanewsgroup.com
Nine years ago, Luis Lujan was driving his two children home from daycare when all of a sudden, a pickup truck carrying watermelons pulled out right in front of him. Lujan’s 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee T-boned the other car at 45 mph. “I slammed right sideways into him,” recalled Lujan, 50, a Navy veteran from Fremont. “That threw me against the door jam, and I hit my head.” For two years, doctors repeatedly said he was fine. But Lujan kept going to the emergency room because of the pain from the crash. It wasn’t until he visited a veterans hospital in Palo Alto that an MRI revealed two ruptured discs and nerve impingement, injuries that stemmed from his time in the military in the early ’90s. He received compensation for those injuries, but obstacles still remained. Though he was able to get a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University through a post-9/11 GI Bill, and later a job at a security company, the gig ultimately didn’t work out and that left him in a particularly difficult situation. He had to find new housing after his inlaws, who he and his family were living with at the time, decided to sell their property. But no landlord would accept Lujan’s income, which consisted of his disability payments. So in 2019 he reached out to San Francisco-based Swords to Plowshares, which helps veterans with a variety of financial and job assistance programs. The organization immediately found a landlord who was willing to work with the nonprofit. Lujan got his first month’s rent and security deposit covered by Swords to Plowshares, and 35% rental assistance going forward. “It was like heaven sent,” said Lujan.
20 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Sharon Martin smartin@ bayareanewsgroup.com
The first night out on the streets, Leslie Banks lost all hope. Looking for refuge and a safe place to sleep, Banks curled up in a park with a sleeping bag and her bike. She fell asleep only to be awakened by the sprinklers in the middle of the night. With her clothes drenched, she felt the sting of the cold air. She cried and couldn’t stop. She had a thought: “Maybe someone will come and I’ll get lucky and somebody will kill me.” Banks experienced homelessness for almost 17 years. But now, the 59-year-old has secured a job, a safe place to call home and a burning desire to help those who were just like her. “Trinity Center means everything for me,” Banks said. “If it wasn’t for Trinity, I’d still be homeless out on the street.” Trinity Center Walnut Creek operates a weekday program for adults and transitional-aged youth in need of safety net services. It also operates an overnight winter shelter with 50 beds. The center provides a place for homeless people to take a shower, do laundry, receive mail and access a computer. In early 2020, Banks was able to move into a home. She lives in a studio apartment above the Trinity Center, where there are a few small apartments and studios for members. “It’s a lot safer,” Banks said. “I have electricity. I can see at night when it gets dark. I have a bathtub now so I can soak in a bathtub if I want.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Trinity Center Walnut Creek
OFF THE STREETS AND GLAD TO GIVE BACK
ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Leslie Banks cleans in the shower and laundry area she manages at Trinity Center Walnut Creek, which operates a winter shelter and also offers computer and mail services to the homeless. After years on the streets, Banks gratefully moved into an apartment last year with help from Trinity.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 21
Veterans Accession House
TRANSITIONAL HOUSING IS LIFE CHANGING
ARIC CRABB — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nels Rasmussen plays guitar in his room at the Veterans Accession House in Pittsburg. The transitional housing program offers veterans a safe living environment and provides on-site case management. “There’s a lot of empowerment that’s been going on here,” Rasmussen says.
By Jakob Rodgers jrodgers@ bayareanewsgroup.com
For nearly two months, Kendrick Harrelson never left the fire restoration company where he worked. Literally. At night, he went into a back storage room, inflated an old air mattress and tried falling asleep while a small pinprick hole left his bed slowly sinking to the floor. “Being homeless as a veteran, it’s a rough ordeal,” Harrelson said. “It was depressing. I really could have let myself go.” Harrelson ranks among a small-but-growing number of military veterans to graduate from the Veterans Accession House. The nonprofit operates a duplex in Pittsburg where veterans can come in from the streets, get jobs and find stability while looking for a place of their own. The program began about five years ago, when Leonard Ramirez sought a way to give back after a life spent in the military and law enforcement. He purchased the Pittsburg house with the plan of simply renting it out. But then he decided to turn it into transitional housing to help homeless veterans. “While everyone’s doing a great job, there’s only so much capacity in all these different programs,” Ramirez said. “We’re kind of like a safety net for the safety nets.” Nels Rasmussen recalled spending about four months being homeless — crashing on friends’ couches and at various motels. But since moving into Ramirez’s house, Rasmussen has enrolled at Berkeley City College and his finances are stabilizing. “There’s a lot of empowerment that’s been going on here,” Rasmussen said. “It’s turning into quite a community.”
22 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
By Jim Harrington jharrington@ bayareanewsgroup.com
Ametiszt Hajdu had gotten hurt at her job, then hooked on the painkillers that were prescribed to help her deal with the injury. She quit the drugs once she became pregnant, but her living situation was precarious after her daughter Adelynn Island was born. “We were living in an abandoned house that had no ceiling, no roof — it had rats and all kinds of yucky stuff,” she says. Fortunately, Hajdu then learned about the Winter Nights Family Shelter, which helped get her back on her feet by providing emotional, financial and housing support. These days, Hajdu and her daughter — now 4 years old — have a place of their own to call home in Pleasant Hill. “All of this is possible because I was at Winter Nights shelter and they helped me get my car fixed, they helped me keep up with my job,” Hajdu says. “I cannot put it in words what they have done for us.” Hajdu and her daughter are among the more than 1,200 people that the Pleasant Hill-based organization has provided shelter since it was founded in 2004. The nonprofit draws on the help of 60-plus churches and faith congregations, which host the shelter spaces on a rotating basis. “The basic mission is to serve and provide for the needs of people who are unhoused,” says Ann Lawrence, volunteer for donor development/community relations. “We spend a lot of time on what is officially called client management services — but it’s really being counselors to parents and individuals to say, ‘What’s keeping you from being stably housed? And let’s put a plan together for you to work on fixing that.’ ”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Winter Nights Family Shelter
GIVING HOMELESS FAMILIES A HAND UP
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Adelynn Island, 4, leaps into the air while playing at Matteo’s Dream Playground in Concord. She and her mother, Ametiszt Hajdu, received daily living support at Winter Nights Family Shelter until Hajdu could get back on her feet. “I cannot put it in words what they have done for us,” Hajdu said.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
000 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 23
Giving back this holiday season is more important than ever. Your gift will help make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and groups facing challenges made more difficult by the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
7 REASONS TO DONATE Contributions are a vital part of the economy.
1 COVID-19
This once-in-acentury pandemic is heading into its third year. People are struggling to adapt and stay healthy, often after having lost loved ones. The vaccines and booster shots are helping, but our ability to endure is being tested. This is why gifts of kindness will not only make a difference, but give people hope.
2
Show your commitment to your community Every request from Share the Spirit comes from people you may know, chat with or see in your neighborhood. Your community will benefit when you give, which means a healthier environment for all.
TO DONATE
By web, please visit: sharethespiriteastbay.org
3
Inspire your friends & family
You may not know it, but you influence your peers. When you give to a charity such as Share the Spirit, you set an example for all to see how much you truly want to make a difference. Be a giver and a motivator.
By mail (check payable to Share the Spirit): Share the Spirit P.O. Box 3491 Walnut Creek, CA 94598
4
5
Desire to make a difference
The power of gratitude
Your passion to make change happen will have a huge impact on your community. All of the Share the Spirit recipients are people right here in the Bay Area. One action can keep a family warm.
It’s easy to take the simplest things for granted. When you give, you realize what others may lack and are reminded of what you do have. Lift someone up, so they can pass it on.
6
It makes you feel good
7
It’s tax deductible
All of your gift to Share the Spirit When you goes directly to donate you the nonprofits experience more and your donapleasure knowtion is completeing that you are ly tax deductible. making a differ- Just remember ence. The act of to keep your giving sparks a receipt for tax plethora of season. positive feelings inside. Ease someone’s sense of isolation.
24 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 000
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
e-Edition
The Ultimate Reading Experience On Any Screen
To start reading today, visit
myaccount.mercurynews.com myaccount.eastbaytimes.com myaccount.marinij.com