Wish Book - 2018

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 unfulfillled this holiday season.

2 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

WELCOME TO WISH BOOK 2018

To donate online visit: wishbook.mercurynews.com

Name (Please print): Address: City, state and ZIP code

Daytime phone:

(

)

Email address: WISH TO BE FULFILLED T Specific wish

$

T Specific wish

$

Person or group in need Person or group in need

T General donation

$ Total (tax deductible): $

PAYMENT

T Check (Make checks payable to: Wish Book Fund) T Visa T MasterCard T Discover T Amex Credit card number: Signature:

123

CVC: Exp.:

Mail donation to: The Mercury News Wish Book Fund 4 North 2nd Street, Suite 800 San Jose, CA 95113 Contributions: Tax-deductible donations of any amount are welcome.

Wish Book also accepts donations of appreciated stock; please email wishbook@bayareanewsgroup.com if you are interested in donating stock. If donations exceed the amount required to fulfill a certain “wish,” excess funds will be used to fulfill other wishes. Tax ID: 77-0229665

SHOWING OUR GRATITUDE

T Yes T No

Would you like your name to be included in a donor list published in The Mercury News and on wishbook.mercurynews.com?

(If no boxes are checked, your name will be published)

Dear Readers, Welcome to the 36th season of the Mercury News Wish Book.

This year, our award-winning journalists will introduce you to individuals, families and groups coping with significant challenges or helping to make our community a better place. Each possesses a wish you can help fulfill this holiday season.

We have been writing these stories since 1983, and readers like you have generously donated more than $10 million to make individuals’ wishes, large and small, come true.

We are committed to serving our community. We live, work and raise our children here and consider Wish Book one of the most meaningful projects we do each year. We trust this year’s stories will inspire you to get involved, too.

There are two ways to help fulfill a wish: • Make a secure donation online at wishbook.mercurynews.com • Fill out the donation coupon, attach your check or credit card information, and mail it to: Mercury News Wish Book Fund, 4 N. 2nd Street, Suite 800, San Jose, CA 95113.

Contributions of all sizes are welcome and are tax-deductible. All costs of the Wish Book program are paid by the Bay Area News Group, which means 100 percent of your donation goes directly to helping people in our community. 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.

If more money comes in than is needed to grant a specific wish, we will use the extra funds to pay for other wishes.

Please read about the people in the 2018 Wish Book starting today with capsule versions in this preview section and continuing with full stories throughout the holiday season. You can also stay updated on the 2018 Wish Book program by visiting www.mercurynews.com/wishbook.

Your donations will help make our community a better place to live and thrive. The Mercury News is proud to come together with the community once again to improve the lives of Bay Area residents.

Thank you for your generosity.

Happy Holidays!

Sharon Ryan, Publisher

T Include a dedication to a person, cause or group In honor of:

ON THE COVER

Jeff McDonald draws during an art class at Abilities United in Palo Alto.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 3

Abilities United

DAI SUGANO— STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

DISABLED EMBRACE THE ART OF POSSIBILITY

By Mike Frankel mfrankel@bayareanewsgroup.com PALO ALTO » Jill Matranga knew exactly what to do when they first put the bright yellow hard hat on her head, with the paint brush cleverly protruding through the brim.

Just because she can’t hold a brush doesn’t mean she can’t paint.

They don’t do “can’t” at Abilities United, a nonprofit that’s finding unique ways through art to empower adults and children with physical and developmental disabilities. Most Tuesdays, they gather at the weekly art class inside a Palo Alto building that once housed an indoor swimming pool but now resembles the cluttered, chaotic creativity of a

SoHo artist loft.

For Matranga, the act of painting itself is a delicate and complex ballet. She has cerebral palsy and can’t speak, but she communicates the colors she wants by purposefully blinking brilliant hazel eyes.

When Micha Stoneham squares up the palette to her brush, she swivels her neck and cranes her head and magically … paints.

“I think most people who would meet her would right off think that Jill doesn’t have a personality, that she’s just going through the motions,” said Stoneham, a gentle bear of a man with a thick beard who serves as one of the nonprofit’s instructors.

“When you go back later and show her what she’s created, she lights up.”

Community training instructor Micha Stoneham of Abilities United assists Jill Matranga as she paints during an art class in Palo Alto.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Abilities United expand its art program to include 50 weeks of accessible, inclusive art classes for people with disabilities and any community members who want to participate.

Goal: $30,000

4 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

AchieveKids

LIPO CHING — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

TEEN PEDALS THROUGH CHALLENGES

By Elliott Almond ealmond@bayareanewsgroup.com SAN JOSE » It took a bit of parental sorcery to lure the ever-reluctant Darshan Shah to leave his room to demonstrate the joys of riding an adult tricycle.

At first, the 12th grader at AchieveKids school in San Jose acted as if he had been ordered to take out the garbage. Or worse, complete a weekend homework assignment.

Then he mounted the three-wheeler, pedaled earnestly with eyes bright, jaws locked determinedly. In that fleeting moment, Darshan looked like a typical 17-year-old boy challenging the boundaries of the physical world.

What so many might take for granted becomes a family triumph for Hitesh and Clau-

dia Shah whenever their son with autism and Cerebral Palsy performs a physical activity as simple as cycling.

Darshan has learned to engage with fellow students, teachers and staff at AchieveKids — a nonprofit, special education program founded on the Peninsula in 1960 that serves students with severe developmental, emotional and behavioral challenges at campuses in East San Jose and Palo Alto.

The program is trying to raise $4,000 to supply the playgrounds with 10 Schwinn Meridian adult tricycles. They currently own three such bikes. A fleet of trikes at AchieveKids would allow Darshan to participate with others instead of playing alone.

“It gives them one other dimension to engage in a social and friendly activity,” said Hitesh.

Darshan Shah, 17, demonstrates how he rides a tricycle as his twin brother Deepan, right, father Hitesh and mother Claudia watch in front of their home in San Jose.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help AchieveKids buy 10 adult tricycles for their Adaptive P.E. program for students with developmental, emotional and behavioral challenges.

Goal: $4,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 5

Avenidas

LAURA A. ODA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HELPING SENIORS GET BACK ON TRACK

By Kevin Kelly kkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com

Seven months ago, Martha Frye and her daughter Wendy thought they would lose their Palo Alto home of more than 40 years.

Martha, 86, whose only income comes from Social Security checks, had undergone a series of unexpected surgeries on her eyes that squeezed their finances and was suffering from depression; Wendy had lost her job as a caregiver and was having trouble finding work. They had fallen behind on mortgage payments and utility bills and sometimes didn’t know how they would pay for their next meal. It got so bad that for roughly two years both of them struggled to get out of bed each morning.

“I didn’t know where our next dollar was

going to come from for groceries or gas for the car,” said Wendy, who is now her mother’s caregiver.

This past April, a local hospital told the Fryes about Avenidas, a Palo Alto nonprofit that runs a free case-management service for seniors that helps get them back on track and able to stay in their longtime home.

Avenidas offers a variety of low-cost and free services for residents 60 years or older, including emergency funds of up to $300 to residents living on fixed incomes like the Fryes who suffer financial setbacks.

The emergency assistance was a godsend for the Fryes, but they say Avenidas’ case management services are what really got them back on track. The nonprofit offers case management services to about 1,000 residents.

“There is hope now,” Wendy said.

Avenidas, a Palo Alto nonprofit that offers support services for seniors, helped Martha Frye, right, and her daughter Wendy to save their home.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Avenidas’ Case Management Program continue to offer emergency funds to low-income Palo Alto seniors to help keep them in their homes and maintain their independence.

Goal: $10,000

6 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

BAY AREA WOMEN’S SPORTS INITIATIVE

NHAT V. MEYER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

COACHING GIRLS’ ATHLETIC AMBITIONS

By Robert Salonga rsalonga@bayareanewsgroup.com

“BAWSI BAWSI BAWSI!” The effusive energy on the blacktop at A.J. Dorsa Elementary School flowed through the girls to their coaches and back. In that moment on a recent weekday afternoon, these 40 grade schoolers seemed ready to conquer the world.

That’s pretty much the ultimate goal.

Their cheer is the acronym for the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative — a free after-school fitness mentoring program aimed at empowering girls of color attending schools in low-income neighborhoods in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Valeria Topete, a nine-year-old fourth grader at Dorsa, considers herself “super

active” after two years in the BAWSI Girls program at her school.

“We get to hang out with the coaches and get to do a bit of exercise,” Valeria said during a break between playing soccer and tag and writing in her journal.

“We’re exercising and having fun no matter what.”

Gema Ortiz — one of the original BAWSI girls from 2005 — helps run the exercise stations. She says she owes it a debt of gratitude for immersing her in a world where she continues to thrive as a graduate student in sports psychology.

“You’re like a candle, and you start losing hope, and this sparks you up. You become a leader as a young girl,” Ortiz said.

“Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today, as a student or as a teacher.”

Girls at Dorsa Elementary School in San Jose play soccer as part of the BAWSI Girls after-school program.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help fund a BAWSI Girls site for one school year, enrolling up to 130 girls at low-income schools in free after-school fitness and confidence-building activities.

Goal: $20,500

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 7

Bay Area Furniture Bank

KARL MONDON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

DELIVERING FURNITURE AND SMILES TO NEEDY

By Sal Pizarro spizarro@bayareanewsgroup.com

Monica Lua couldn’t believe what she was seeing when the big moving truck pulled up to her two-bedroom apartment in San Jose.

As movers from the Bay Area Furniture Bank began unloading, she saw a dining table set, a couch and end tables, dressers and bookshelves, a floor lamp and a table lamp go by.

“It was much more than I expected, which is really awesome,” Lua said. The 32-year-old recently moved into the apartment with her family of four — including two kids — with the help of the Bill Wilson Center’s Rapid Rehousing Program. “I’m so appreciative of everything they brought because it’ll make our home more comfortable.”

Bringing smiles to the faces of people he

helps is what makes it all worthwhile for Ray Piontek, who started the Bay Area Furniture Bank in his Los Altos garage just over two years ago. Piontek was spurred to action after learning about the plight of veterans, kids who have aged out of the foster care system and the recently homeless. Once they get a place to live, they don’t always have the means to furnish their new home.

So far, the Furniture Bank has helped nearly 700 adults and more than 500 children.

“This started as my retirement hobby,” said Piontek, 75, a former Naval officer who worked at several Silicon Valley companies, including Apple and Autodesk. “First, I thought it would just be for veterans because I’m a vet. But the need is so great everywhere that I couldn’t limit it.”

Brian O’Leary, left, Kyree Rhodes and founder Ray Piontek move donated desks at Bay Area Furniture Bank’s Sunnyvale warehouse.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Bay Area Furniture Bank buy new beds — for sanitary reasons the group doesn’t offer used beds — for families transitioning out of homelessness or in need of assistance.

Goal: $30,000

8 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

Caminar

PHOTO BY JACQUELINE RAMSEYER

LGBTQ TEENS FIND COMMUNITY, SUPPORT

By Jason Green jason.green@bayareanewsgroup.com

For the longest time, 21-year-old Pia Cruz, of San Jose, was the only transgender person she knew.

“And besides my two ex-boyfriends, I was the only queer person that I knew, which was really quite lonely,” she said. “You want other people who can relate to your struggles.”

Cruz’s search for community ended in May when she discovered the LGBTQ Youth Space in downtown San Jose. Opened in 2012, the drop-in center at 452 South First St. serves hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and ally youths ages 13 to 25.

“This space exists to support, affirm and celebrate all gender identities and sexual

orientations,” said Adrienne Keel, director of LGBTQ programs.

“Basically,” she continued, “it’s a fun hangout space where people can come be themselves, whatever that looks like, attend groups, get some basic resources, rest and find community.”

The LGBTQ Youth Space receives operational funding from Santa Clara County, but grants and donations underpin its programs and services, including the workshop that introduced Cruz to the drop-in center. The program is run by the nonprofit organization Caminar.

“We can amplify what we’re doing,” Keel said. “These kinds of funds are a blessing because we can go beyond the bare minimum and really just do some awesome things with our programming.”

Miguel Ceniceros, Simon Phichayaphinyo, Stanley Gaeta and Hawke, clockwise from left, create decorations for a Dia de los Muertos altar at the LGBTQ Youth Space in San Jose.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Caminar support its LGBTQ Youth Space, which provides assistance for vulnerable youth including enrichment programs and supplies at drop-in centers in San Jose and southern Santa Clara County.

Goal: $20,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 9

Child Advocates of Silicon Valley

LIPO CHING — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

BUILDING TRUST, GIVING DIRECTION

By Julia Prodis Sulek jsulek@bayareanewsgroup.com

Every time an adult tried to help her, Kevelyn Duarte seemed to get a little more miserable.

Through no fault of her own, she found herself at age 13 living in a group home with troubled teens, relentless rules and an ever-changing cast of adults orchestrating her chaotic, lonely life as a foster child.

“It was like everyone was against me,” Kevelyn, 17, said, “as if I did something wrong.”

So when Stacy Castle, a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), tried to set up a meeting to get acquainted, Kevelyn resisted.

“She canceled on me steps away from the door a half dozen times — ‘I’m tired, I don’t feel

good, I have homework’ — every excuse she could come up with,” Castle said. “I’m feeling like, clearly she doesn’t want me. She doesn’t need me. Why am I even appointed to this?”

Castle stuck with it, and over the next few years what started with an offering of pink “cakepops” from Starbucks grew into a trusting, empowering relationship. Castle’s job was to be the “one consistent caring adult” in Kevelyn’s life — and it’s paying off.

For a girl who held such deep-seeded anger at the unfairness of her situation and feared at one point she would end up in juvenile hall, Kevelyn has reigned in her worst impulses, found purpose in her life and is on track to graduate from high school this spring.

“Stacy made a difference. She’s still making a difference,” Kevelyn said. “She’s someone I can just trust.”

Kevelyn Duarte, 17, works at Chuck E. Cheese’s in Cupertino. “Stacy made a difference,” she says of her advocate, Stacy Castle.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help foster teen Kevelyn, 17 and a senior in high school, purchase a used car to get to school and work. Donations also will help Child Advocates of Silicon Valley recruit and train advocates to work with foster youth.

Goal: $5,000

10 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

HERS Breast Cancer Foundation

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SUPPORT FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS

By Joseph Geha jgeha@bayareanewsgroup.com

As a devout Catholic, Teresita Nava knew it was wrong to question the Lord. But in her darker moments, she couldn’t help but wonder why she ended up with stage three breast cancer.

“Many things came to my mind. Will I die?

Will I be able to survive? I’d like to know what are my chances,” the 69-year-old Milpitas resident said. “I was afraid.”

Shortly after undergoing a mastectomy in late August to remove her right breast, Nava said her body changed drastically, and she didn’t feel whole.

“When I dress up, and when I get up in the morning I can see, oh my God, this is how I will be for the rest of my life. It’s hard, but

I have to accept it,” Nava said. “I was losing hope,” said Nava as she paused to wipe her tears.

Nava said it wasn’t just those close to her who came in to lift her spirits when she was the lowest. Her first visit to the HERS Breast Cancer Foundation also made her feel special and deeply cared for. The organization provides post-surgical items including pocketed bras, silicone breast prostheses, wigs and support camisoles for breast cancer survivors, regardless of their financial situation.

Nava’s breast care specialist, Debra Shanley, took time to carefully measure and fit Nava with a pocketed bra and a breast prosthesis that worked for her body.

After seeing what she looked like with the prosthetic, Nava said she told Shanley, “Oh my God, now I feel like I’m whole again.”

Teresita Nava, 69, of Milpitas, at a HERS Breast Cancer Foundation program store in Fremont. “Now I feel like I’m whole again,” she said.

HOWTOHELP Funds will help HERS Breast Cancer Foundation purchase bras, prostheses, camisoles, compression garments and head covers for low-income, uninsured or underinsured breast cancer survivors.

Goal: $10,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 11

Learning and Loving Education Center

KARL MONDON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HELPING IMMIGRANT FAMILIES THRIVE

By Tatiana Sanchez tsanchez@bayareanewsgroup.com MORGAN HILL » Five-month-old Naomi cooed and smiled in the arms of a friendly employee who eagerly cradled her in her arms as Naomi’s mother, Sandra Morales, took a literacy test in a classroom nearby. Soon, the baby was fast asleep in a crib in the hallway, a familiar sight at this homey place on Church Street where thousands of immigrant women like Morales have found a second home and a place to thrive.

The Learning and Loving Education Center, now in its 25th year, is one of the few places in the Bay Area devoted solely to undeserved immigrant women and their kids, teaching them critical professional and life skills as they integrate into their communities. For many women

living on the fringes of Silicon Valley, it’s the only avenue to obtain resources crucial to their success in this country.

“We don’t have to worry about anything,” Morales said. “Whatever we need, they always try to see how they can help.”

The organization takes a holistic approach, offering myriad social and health services to hundreds of low-income immigrant women for a yearly $70 fee, including free meals and clothing, computer and English literacy courses, job skills training, nutrition classes and academic and marriage counseling.

Immigrants from the Philippines, Russia and the Middle East and older women looking to learn new skills have diversified the organization’s client base in recent years.

“There are no second-class people here,” said executive director Christa Hanson.

Children use iPads in the nursery at the Learning and Loving Education Center in Morgan Hill while their mothers take classes.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Learning and Loving Education Center upgrade ESL software, hardware and furniture for its computer lab that serves low-income immigrant women and their children.

Goal: $2,500

12 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

LifeMoves

ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ENDING THE HOMELESS CYCLE WITH RESPECT

By Daniel Brown danbrown@bayareanewsgroup.com

She named her youngest daughter Genesis.

“She’s my beginning,” Angelina Garcia said.

Before Genesis, there were drugs and abuse and a son who died in vitro.

But these days, in contrast, there are nightly readings of “The Hungry Caterpillar” and daily lessons on manners. There are also lots of flowers. Angelina likes to surprise Genesis, 7, with the occasional bouquet.

“Just so she knows that this is how you’re supposed to be treated,” Garcia said. “This is what love is. This is what respect is.”

Garcia, 43, spoke from the safety of a LifeMoves shelter in downtown San Jose.

Genesis sat next to her mother during the

interview, dutifully filling in a lion’s mane on a coloring book.

This is, by LifeMoves policy, a temporary stop. The nonprofit agency provides interim housing and supportive services for people on their way to self-sufficiency.

LifeMoves officials say that 89 percent of families and 73 percent of individuals who complete the program “achieve stable housing and self-sufficiency.”

This is an ideal stopover for Genesis and her doting mother. Half of the shelter beds here are occupied by children.

“She’s in a safe environment,” Angelina said, running a playful hand over her daughter’s head. Mom likes to say that her Genesis has the hair of a mermaid. “She has somewhere to sleep. She has somewhere to eat.

That’s consistent. That’s regular.”

Angelina Garcia and daughter Genesis, 7, at the George Travis House shelter in San Jose. Garcia and her daughter are clients of LifeMoves, which assists homeless families.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help LifeMoves fund its Children’s Education Program, which provides academic and behavioral health support to bridge achievement gaps and address the trauma of children who have experienced homelessness.

Goal: $20,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 13

Parents Helping Parents

KARL MONDON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KEEPING SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS SAFE

By Marisa Kendall mkendall@bayareanewsgroup.com

Madison Turner, a high-school freshman who has Down syndrome, has always been friendly — she’d even hug strangers she met in line at the grocery store.

But the 14-year-old’s outgoing personality prompted her mother to worry: What if her daughter was unknowingly making herself a target for predators?

“Children with special needs are very vulnerable,” said Madison’s mother, 43-year-old Marcie Turner, of San Jose.

“And that’s why I feel like I really need to, not necessarily scare her, but make her more aware.”

Over the summer, Turner signed her daughter up for a “Social Boundaries”

class offered by San Jose-based nonprofit Parents Helping Parents, which teaches children with autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities and other special needs how to safely and appropriately interact with the people in their lives. The classes, which have been running consistently for nine years, have taught dozens of children who struggle with social cues.

The goal is to protect some of society’s most vulnerable populations.

“A lot of our kids are taught at a young age to hug everybody,” said Trudy Grable, director of community and family services for Parents Helping Parents. “And especially individuals who are very happy, jolly and love people. They become big huggers, which puts them at risk.”

Marcie Turner with her 14-year-old daughter Madison. Madison was born with Down syndrome and is a graduate of a workshop designed to increase the safety of children with intellectual disabilities.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Parents Helping Parents hold Social Boundaries workshops to help educate children with intellectual disabilities about sexual assault and exploitation.

Goal: $20,000

14 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

Project WeHOPE

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ROLLING OUT HOPE WITH A HOT SHOWER

By Khalida Sarwari ksarwari@bayareanewsgroup.com

For a lot of us, a hot shower is a regular part of our daily routine. For some, like Francisco “Paco” Garcia, it’s a luxury.

Garcia, 48, is an RV dweller in Redwood City with a roof over his head but little else in the way of living accommodations. To stay clean, he has to think creatively. Sometimes he goes to a local car wash and asks them to let him rinse off. Other times, he’ll use the sprinklers over at Hoover Park.

Twice a week, he drops by a white trailer bearing the inscription, “Dignity on Wheels” above blue soap bubbles along the bottom.

The mobile hygiene truck can be found at the end of the parking lot of the Fair Oaks Community Center on Middlefield Road in Red-

wood City where for four hours twice a week it provides a hot shower and laundry services to anyone who needs those services.

Dignity on Wheels launched in September 2015 and today operates five trucks throughout the Bay Area but is mostly concentrated in the South Bay and Peninsula. Like the truck on Middlefield Road, they offer free hot showers and laundry services four to five hours several days a week.

“When people are not clean and do not have clean clothing, they often do not access needed social and other services for which they are eligible, and they also refuse medical care,” said Alicia Garcia, associate director of Project WeHOPE, a nonprofit based in East Palo Alto that helps homeless people and families in need get back on their feet through programs like Dignity on Wheels.

Jaime Perez, an intake specialist for Dignity on Wheels, removes a client’s clothes from the dryer in Redwood City.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Project WeHOPE provide free showers, washers and dryers for homeless people in Sunnyvale through their hygiene outreach program.

Goal: $25,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 15

Reading Partners

RANDY VAZQUEZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SPREADING THE WORD ON JOYS OF READING

By Patrick May pmay@bayareanewsgroup.com

This morning’s session starts with “o” and “a”. Put the two together, volunteer Debbie Dawkins tells Aleena, the wispy San Jose second-grader with a long black ponytail, and they make a long “o”.

As in Oh! That leads us to moat and goat and that boat in the book called Joe’s Toe that is splayed out on the tiny table between the two.

And with that, Aleena jumps in, slowly and softly reading each word aloud, using the day’s two letters like a safecracker to pick the locks on this story, to open it up sentence by sentence.

“Be sure to pause at the period,” Dawkins, 58, tells Aleena , whom she works with twice a

week as part of Reading Partners, a Bay Areabased program that helps literacy-challenged students across the country master the reading skills they need to survive in school.

Now in its 20th year, Reading Partners works with thousands of students across the country, including 15 schools here in Silicon Valley. Dawkins is one of nearly 30 volunteers who come weekly to a brightly-lit converted classroom on this East San Jose campus, collaborating with regional staff and an on-site coordinator from the national service organization AmeriCorps on one common goal: to help 55 students this school year bring their reading skills up to their appropriate grade level.

“It’s amazing,” Dawkins said, “to watch these kids bloom and blossom. By the end of the year, they’re like a different child.”

Aleena, right, a secondgrader at San Antonio Elementary in San Jose, works with volunteer Debbie Dawkins during the Reading Partners program.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Reading Partners provide a full school year of one-on-one reading tutoring for 10 low-income elementary school children who are behind grade level reading proficiency.

Goal: $11,000

16 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

Science is Elementary

KARL MONDON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

NONPROFIT FINDS FUTURE SCIENTISTS

By Lisa M. Krieger lkrieger@bayareanewsgroup.com

Problem: Curiosity is broadly distributed.

Opportunity is not.

Solution: Bay Area volunteers are bringing science experiments into the low-income classrooms, thrilling youngsters with hands-on research.

Proving the law of cause and effect, the nonprofit Science is Elementary watches students’ curiosity soar when projects are fun.

Conceived by Stanford-educated PhD chemist Tzipor Ulman, the organization has introduced 10,000 Bay Area children to simple but elegant concepts in physics, chemistry and engineering — using speedy toy cars to teach about force, inflated bal-

loons to study mass, mirrors to show how light travels and melting ice to reveal some of the ever-changing properties of matter.

Founded ten years ago in two schools in Mountain View and Sunnyvale, its 200 volunteer scientists and engineers now work in Oakland, Milpitas, East Menlo Park, Santa Clara, Redwood City and East Palo Alto schools. It also works with teachers, mentoring them in science instruction.

But with greater support, it could reach many more.

Its philosophy: Science is awesome. Science is for everyone. And science is everywhere.

“It is play, but it’s ‘learning play,’ ” said volunteer Steve Williams, a retired physicist with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford.

Montague Elementary School fifth-graders Jesiah Caampued, left, and John Barry Calimlim share a laugh while studying gases during a program run by visiting Science is Elementary instructors.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Science is Elementary provide hands-on science classes for elementary school children in low-income schools.

Goal: $5,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 17

Silicon Valley Independent Living Center

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HELPING DISABLED LIVE AT HOME

By John Woolfolk jwoolfolk@bayareanewsgroup.com

Ferdinand Mangaoang was enjoying retirement after a long career as a draftsman, indulging his passion for cooking and spending time with his wife, children and grandkids. He had a scare three years ago with a mild stroke that slowed his gait but seemed to otherwise recover.

Then on June 10, 2016, disaster struck.

His wife, Cecilia, found him snoring and drooling in the morning, unable to get up.

Their son and daughter-in-law gave him CPR, but medics gave him grave odds as they whisked him to the hospital.

Ferdinand, 62, survived the second stroke. But this time the damage was profound, and his prospects for return-

ing home daunting. After two weeks in a coma, he was sent to nursing homes, where he remained bedridden, reliant on breathing and feeding tubes.

But the Mangaoang family got a break when the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center worked with them to modify their San Jose home to accommodate Ferdinand’s disabilities and allow him to return home under the care of his family rather than in a skilled-nursing facility.

“We really appreciate that they put Ferdinand back in his home so we can take care of him,” said Cecilia, who, like her daughter-in-law Armida, had worked as a nurse in the Philippines.

“It’s better here than at the nursing home. At least here at home, we can take care of him.”

After school, Michael Mangaoang, 11, talks to his grandfather, Ferdinand Mangaoang, 62, who suffered a severe stroke in June 2016 but has moved back into their San Jose home.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Silicon Valley Independent Living Center provide home accessibility and safety modifications so that people with disabilities can remain in their homes.

Goal: $25,000

18 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

Tri-City Volunteers Food Bank

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

FEEDING A NEED FOR HEALTHY MEALS

By Paul Rogers progers@bayareanewsgroup.com

When most Americans think of Silicon Valley, images of brilliant engineers, multi-million-dollar homes and sleek electric cars come to mind.

But on a nondescript street on the northern edges of Fremont, tucked behind an auto repair shop and a car wash, the forgotten side of Silicon Valley stands in line.

Four days a week, Monday to Thursday, dozens of people wait patiently on the sidewalk outside Tri-City Volunteers Food Bank for the opportunity to feed themselves through the generosity of others.

There are mothers with fidgeting children, seniors with walkers, weary bluecollar workers — people of all ages and

ethnic backgrounds relying on the nonprofit charity to provide fruit, vegetables, bread, some meat and other basics to help make ends meet.

The food bank, founded in 1970, allows each person to visit twice a month.

It serves 16,000 people monthly, many of whom would otherwise go hungry.

“People say, ‘Why do you need a food bank in an affluent place like Silicon Valley?’ ” said Taylor Johnson, the food bank’s executive director. “A lot of people who come here are making minimum wage or not enough to pay the rent and also have money left over for food. We have teachers, people who work at places like Starbucks and at fast food restaurants. It’s not just people who are homeless. We also have a lot of seniors.”

Kate Dixon, of Fremont, selects groceries at Tri-City Volunteers Food Bank, which allows twice-monthly visits to clients.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Tri-City Volunteers Food Bank operate its mobile pantry and also buy specialized foods, supplies and materials for its MarketPlace food pantry.

Goal: $30,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 19

Teen Success, Inc.

LAURA A. ODA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

EMPOWERING YOUNG MOMS TO FINISH SCHOOL

By Mark Gomez mgomez@bayareanewsgroup.com SAN JOSE » When the East Side Union High School District considered closing the daycare program at Foothill High School last year, a group of teen moms knew their voices needed to be heard.

So the girls tapped one of their vocal leaders, Sofia Jaquez, to tell the school district board just how difficult it would be for them to earn their diploma without access to on-campus child care.

“I definitely feel in that moment, I was doing it for a lot of people who didn’t want to talk,” said Jaquez, who recently turned 19 and is a few months

away from obtaining her diploma. “I knew it was important to say everything I needed to say with a loud voice.

And that’s what I did.”

Jaquez was one of two girls chosen to speak to the board on behalf of the teen moms who are mentored through Teen Success, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to “empower and inspire” young mothers to overcome challenges and reach their full potential through education.

“In that moment, I felt like I could use my voice in any way,” said Jaquez, who was 16 when she gave birth to her daughter Elina.

“I felt very empowered. They were listening to me. It was an amazing feeling. I felt unstoppable in that moment.”

Sofia Jaquez, 19, gives her daughter Elina Sanchez, 3, a kiss before leaving her with caregivers at the Mayfair Community Center in San Jose.

HOWTOHELP Donations will go toward the San Jose Teen Success Program, which helps young families continue their education by providing program supplies, diapers, snacks and child care so families can participate in the year-long program.

Goal: $25,000

20 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

The Health Trust AIDS Services Program

RANDY VAZQUEZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LEARNING ABOUT AND LIVING WITH AIDS

By Karen D'Souza kdsouza@bayareanewsgroup.com

When DeLoria White first found out she was HIV positive, she broke down in hot tears of fear and shame.

“I thought it was a death sentence. I didn’t want to tell nobody,” says the 57-year-old grandmother of eight. “I went into denial and I stayed there. I was very afraid. I didn’t want to die.”

Today, nearly 11 years after she was first diagnosed, White has learned that HIV is a manageable condition and that she has no reason to feel ashamed. After she moved to San Jose in 2008, she sought help at The Health Trust’s AIDS Services Program, which has helped her find housing, get medical care and come to grips with her illness. At a time when

funding for AIDS services is hard to come by because many assume the epidemic is over, the Health Trust is a lifeline for people like White.

“At The Health Trust, there was no stigma and no judgement. It was such a relief,” remembers White, who grew up in Vallejo.

“They got your back.”

Filled with a new sense of hope, she told her family about her illness. But they were scared.

Some folks didn’t want to touch her or use the same silverware she did. Their fear stung.

“I had to educate myself and then I had to educate them,” says White, a lively African-American woman with a hearty laugh.

“There’s a lot of stigma out there for black women. It’s not like telling people you have cancer, all wrapped up in pink bows. Back in the day, AIDS was something you kept quiet.”

DeLoria White, left, thanks Robert Smart, a program associate with the Health Trust, at the program’s office in San Jose.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help The Health Trust AIDS Services Program provide case management, nutrition, benefits counseling, housing assistance and emergency financial help to Santa Clara County residents living with HIV/AIDS.

Goal: $25,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 21

Veggielution

NHAT V. MEYER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SOWING SEEDS OF COMMUNITY AND HEALTH

By Linda Zavoral lzavoral@bayareanewsgroup.com

Fresh from a visit to the greenhouse and a bit of weeding in a row of radishes and pumpkins, 18 youngsters gathered to show what they’d soaked up during their field trip to the Veggielution organic farm in San Jose.

“Can someone tell me what ‘crop rotation’ is?” Yazmin Hernandez, the farm’s community engagement manager, asked them.

Joshua Nguyen’s hand shot up. “It’s when you plant crops to replace the other crops so that the soil becomes more rich,” the 11-yearold promptly answered.

Clearly, the Citizen Schools students from Renaissance Academy at Fischer Middle School had been paying attention. This Veggielution program for youngsters — hun-

dreds come for tours every year — is intended to plant the seeds of organic farming and healthy eating.

Veggielution, which sits on six acres at the Emma Prusch Farm Park, is celebrating its 10th year as a nonprofit with a mission of “connecting people from diverse backgrounds through food and farming to build community in East San Jose.” The staff and volunteers do that by operating a community farm and farm stand with below-market prices, teaching sustainable agricultural practices, hosting children’s activities and fresh-air yoga classes, and bringing cooks and eaters together at the Veggielution Cocina.

The Cocina is a joyous gathering held on the first Saturday of the month and taught in Spanish by home cooks.

Yazmin Hernandez, community engagement manager at Veggielution, gives instructions as students prepare to weed crops in San Jose.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help Veggielution fund Veggielution Cocina, a monthly Spanish-language cooking class in East San Jose. Funds will go toward stipends for chefs, kitchen assistants and child-care providers; ingredients and supplies; and free farm stand produce.

Goal: $10,000

22 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

West Valley Community Services

NHAT V. MEYER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HELPING STUDENTS STAY IN COLLEGE

By Tracey Kaplan tkaplan@bayareanewsgroup.com

All that stands between swimming pool cleaner Julie Zerwekh and a brighter financial future is food.

With enough to eat, the 40-something woman will be able to realize her dream of graduating from West Valley College and landing a white-collar job as a paralegal. Without it, she’d have to drop out and continue swabbing pools and inhaling harsh chemicals to survive.

But by the time Zerwekh pays the rent in her Scotts Valley mobile home park and for gas to commute to school, there’s not much left over for groceries.

That’s where a special program run

by West Valley Community Services to

help students at West Valley and De Anza community colleges comes in.

The program offers free food, emergency financial assistance, case management and benefit referrals to students like her who struggle to cover the cost of high cost of living in the greater Bay Area.

The West Valley agency estimates that about 3,600 students or 12 percent of the 30,000 students at the two community colleges struggle to pay for food. About 9,700 have a hard time keeping a roof over their heads.

“This is deeply troubling, given that both colleges are located in two of the most affluent zip codes in Silicon Valley,’’ said Sujatha Venkatraman, the agency’s associate executive director.

Julie Zerwekh bags her food at the West Valley Community Center’s Mobile Food Pantry at West Valley College in Saratoga.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help West Valley Community Services provide outreach services and emergency financial assistance to low income and homeless community college students struggling with food and housing insecurity.

Goal: $20,000

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

111 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 23

YMCA of Silicon Valley

RANDY VAZQUEZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LEARNING BEGINS AT NANA Y YO PROGRAM

By Emily DeRuy ederuy@bayareanewsgroup.com

Amaya Salazar stared straight ahead, intently focused on the picture book her teacher held aloft.

Curious George, the inquisitive monkey beloved for generations by children the world over, was visiting a fire station, and the almost three-year-old’s eyes were glued to the bright yellow and red pages.

Suddenly Amaya’s little voice pierced the air. She’d been to a fire station, she announced proudly. Without missing a beat, the instructor, Sabrina Montijo, capitalized on the interjection. Who works at a fire station, she asked the children before her, and what do they do?

Several kids piped up: “Firefighters!” The

exchange was brief, a blip on a recent morning. But it’s exactly what the YMCA of Silicon Valley wants to see.

The organization runs the classes Amaya and her grandmother, Alicia Koch, attend a couple of mornings each week in Sunnyvale.

Officially known as the YMCA Early Learning Readiness program, the course is better known in the community as Nana y Yo, or Grandma and Me. Launched about nine years ago, the program aims to help children who aren’t enrolled in daycare or preschool get ready for kindergarten and to give their caregivers tools to encourage learning at home. And what started out as a small-scale operation has now blossomed into 17 sites across Silicon Valley serving about 500 children and caretakers.

Marivic Hoayun, left, plays a learning game with her daughters Victoria, center, and Gwendolyn, right, at the YMCA’s Nana y Yo program at Lakewood Elementary School in Sunnyvale.

HOWTOHELP Donations will help YMCA of Silicon Valley set up a new Early Learning Readiness site in Santa Clara County to provide no-cost preschool for children and their caregivers.

Goal: $30,000

24 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018

2018 Generous contributions to The Mercury News Wish Book and East Bay Times Share the Spirit campaigns from our partner organizations enable us to assist those in challenging situations, making our community a better place.

Thank you to all our Top Workplaces Corporate Sponsors for your support.

Alliance Residential Bolt Threads Byk Advertising California Water Service Group Del Grande Dealer Group East Bay Agency for Children Fremont Bank Globalstar Greater LA Fisher House

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Intapp MuleSoft Provident Credit Union Pulse Secure Recruitology Rosendin Electric Inc. Sage Intacct San Francisco 49ers

Seneca Family of Agencies Sereno Group Real Estate Stanford Federal Credit Union The ABD Team The Cooper Companies The Core Group Xactly

To learn more visit: wishbook.mercurynews.com or sharethespiriteastbay.org