While the news seems saturated with nothing but negative images
from Iraq these days, an all women’s group called the Gilroy
Assistance League is on the move, doing good in Gilroy.
GAL held its annual awards luncheon last Friday in the beautiful
upstairs room of Gilroy’s Old City Hall.
While the news seems saturated with nothing but negative images from Iraq these days, an all women’s group called the Gilroy Assistance League is on the move, doing good in Gilroy.
GAL held its annual awards luncheon last Friday in the beautiful upstairs room of Gilroy’s Old City Hall.
GAL is an organization of 35 active members and as many associate members dedicated to raising funds to benefit the young people of our community.
GAL raises money in various ways all year long, including selling Easter lilies, holding bridge tournaments, and selling cookbooks called “Reflections of our Lives: Culinary Classics and Time-honored Recipes of GAL and Friends.” One popular fund-raiser is a colorful woven throw depicting various historic landmarks of Gilroy.
According to Paula Goldsmith, president of GAL: “It’s important to let the community hear about what we do. GAL, although it has been in existence for years, is still relatively unknown to people in Gilroy, yet their children or grandchildren may be benefiting from our grants in some way.”
GAL is unique among organizations of its kind in that rather than having a board decide awards, each member of GAL votes to decide what will benefit local youth the most. “Everybody votes,” member Doris Isaacson says, “It’s very democratic.”
Many organizations struggle with the issue of declining membership as their charter membership ages and times change, but not GAL. Pointing around the table, long-time member Mavis Parish singles out some of the younger women at the luncheon. “A lot of younger, more active members are joining now with new ideas.”
Asked how long she’s been a member, Mavis answers, “God only knows.”
“She’s in my category,” Edith Edde says, whose active membership dates back to 1958 when she first came to Gilroy.
Over the years, the organization has looked for new ways to meet the needs of the community’s youth. In 2003, GAL gave out just over $10,000 to various local youth causes, including Brownell Academy Music Department, Gilroy Community Youth Center and GHS Grad night.
This year St. Joseph’s Family Center received a grant of $2,000 toward a new industrial storage container to hold the food it distributes to needy families.
Other awards included:
Two awards for Eliot School, $520 for home-use school supplies, daily snacks at school, and supplemental writing materials for 60 Eliot School kindergartners; $900 to the “Every Student Reads at Home” program at Eliot to buy 1,200 books to encourage first and second graders to read.
Literature Circles at St. Mary’s School received $650 to purchase novels. Seventh and eighth grade students take them home to read and then form book groups to discuss what they’ve read.
Gavilan College Theatre received $1,878.16 to purchase six ellipsoidal lights.
Rebekah Children’s Services received $1,500 towards an after school program which includes 20 free weeks of social education and leadership training for at-risk youth. They are taught nutrition, exercise, effective communication, anger management and other skills.
Gilroy High’s world-traveling chamber singers received $1,000 toward the expenses of their recent singing tour of Germany and the Czech Republic.
El Roble School received $350 for its all-volunteer fine arts program called, “Arts Alive.”
The top vote-getter was Kyle Miyamura’s request for $2,451.90 to build six portable wardrobe closets for Gilroy High’s marching band. Kyle is a member of Boy Scout Troop 792 who wants to give back to his school district as part of his Eagle Scout Leadership Program.
A tuba player himself, he has experienced first-hand the frustrations of off-loading the marching band’s uniforms at away games and competitions. The students unload the truck bucket-brigade style, with a row of them passing each pair of shoes and each piece of the uniform down the line as fast as they can.
At one game, Kyle’s shoes went to the wrong person, which was no small problem, since he wears a size 13 shoe!
The new closets will roll off the truck as needed. Kyle’s project is a two-year endeavor of research, planning and designing. He has to procure all needed approvals for the project, raise all needed funds, and build all six cabinets to exact specifications. There will be individual compartments for each pair of shoes.
Kyle’s mom, Joy Miyamura, thanked GAL for her son’s award: “When he opened the letter from you, I wish I had a camera for the look in his eyes!”
Next year GAL’s main fund-raiser will be a Home and Garden Tour of spectacular homes. “We anticipate this being a big success, as there has not been one in Gilroy in recent years,” Goldsmith said. GAL deserves big kudos for its wonderful total giving of $11,250.06 in grants this year to benefit the children of Gilroy. For more information, contact Paula Goldsmith at (408) 847-1129.
