St. Joseph Family Center
7950 Church Street, Gilroy, 842-6662 Serves: 5% of Gilroy’s
population (2,200 very low income children and adults) with food
supplies; holiday baskets; hot meals; Christmas gifts for children.
Needs: Frozen turkeys and chicken; non-perishable sources of
protein (canned tuna, peanut butter, beans); unwrapped new toys;
cash for financial assistance with utility bills. When: Accepts
deliveries Mon-Fri 9am-3pm 12/14/07
Sobrato Transitional Housing
9369 Monterey Rd., Gilroy, 848-6400 Serves: Low-income homeless
families with Christmas gifts for families who clients. Needs: New,
unwrapped toys; gift cards to Walmart/Target/grocery stores. When:
12/14/07
Salvation Army
200 5th Street Gilroy, 848-5373 Serves: Gilroy, San Martin and
Morgan Hill homeless people, low-income people, seniors hot meals.
Needs: Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes; grocery store gift
cards and new toys for children, ages 0-12; frozen turkeys; basic
items for the pantry including peanut butter, macaroni and cheese,
rice, canned tuna or chicken, canned soup, packaged Ramen soups,
cup of soups, Quick Oats, canned vegetables, canned chili, canned
goods, dry spaghetti or other pasta, cans or jars of spaghetti
sauce, boxed cereal, small bags of sugar, small bags of flour,
fruit juices. When: 12/18/07
A full helping hand list
Organizations that need help:
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=229982
Local non-profits and area churches are already waist-high in the torrent of preparing for the busiest time of the year: the holiday season. From providing needy families with a basket full of fixings for a traditional meal so they, too, can celebrate the bounty of Thanksgiving, to helping poor families experience Christmas and survive the high costs of heating for the winter, they are working overtime and non-stop to recruit and coordinate volunteers, identify families in need, solicit donations and coordinate donations and services.
Whew! Though they do this kind of work year round, the part that increases is the recruitment of volunteers and soliciting and coordinating donations, because this is the time of year when residents who have resources to share reflect on their own blessings and resolve to help. With a slower economy and rising fuel costs, the need is growing greater than the resources. The South County Collaborative, a coalition of non-profit and public human service organizations that work to meet South County’s neediest families, helps the Dispatch Editorial Board provide a comprehensive list of opportunities to help.
We annually print this “master list” of organizations – now available at www.gilroydispatch.com under the “News” banner on the opening Web page – that are providing goods and services to poor people. This information will help agencies to know where to send people needing assistance so we can help during this Season of Giving with food baskets, dinners to families, and many other needs.
Many of our local organizations are conducting drives to help the service organizations. You may find giving trees in your bank or real estate office that provides a handy place to drop off a donation. Many Realtors collect canned goods. Morgan Hill Coldwell Banker is conducting a coat drive. Gavilan College receives food donations for St. Joseph’s Family Center year-round in the student center. Local Boy Scout troops collect canned goods; several groups support Toys for Tots. And you can mail a check to any of the service providers on our list any time.
Everyone appreciates the way Gilroyans observe the true meaning of the holidays by giving to others during the holidays. However, consider the rest of the year. Many religious organizations remind their members that hunger happens 365 days a year. For example, you could celebrate Christmas in July by bringing a donation of canned goods or a turkey to St. Joseph Family Center in July as well as December.
Our plea to donors this year is to sign up to serve meals at the dining hall throughout the year, as opposed to walking in on Thanksgiving or Christmas when planning has already been done to staff the kitchens. Also, please purchase and donate your goods or money by the deadline set by your chosen organization so that coordination, assembly and delivery can be as seamless as possible. When we support the deadlines and schedules of the organization, the workers can spend Christmas Eve with their families instead of staffing the donation site.
And, if you miss the deadline, that’s fine! Organizations will GLADLY accept your donations in January, because the need for gifts, gift cards and money, truly is year round.
By helping to coordinate this information, we hope to maximize South County’s greatest resource – the extraordinary generosity of our residents.
