SHELTER, Inc. Families Benefit from Holiday Spirit.

by STEVEN LOVE

It’s said that the holidays bring out the best in people. Nowhere is that more true than here at SHELTER, Inc. The outpouring of support, from the entire community, was truly overwhelming this past holiday season - Thanks to your support every one of SHELTER, Inc.’s 150 families was adopted for the holidays.

The Adopt-A-Family program kicked off in November with HomeAid Northern California, the charitable arm of the Home Builders Association of Northern California, sponsoring a food drive that collected enough food to provide Thanksgiving meals for 568 men, women and children living throughout Contra Costa County. “From my family, we would like to thank everyone involved with making our lives easier in this time of need. Without your help, I don’t know what we would have done. We are thankful for generous people such as yourselves,” a father of four responded. In total, HomeAid collected thousands of pounds of food and approximately $15,000 in cash and gift cards for distribution. Now in its 5th year, the food and cash donations go to support families in shelters built by HomeAid, SHELTER, Inc., Shepherd’s Gate of Livermore and The Family Shelter in Hayward.
Homebuilder attorney, Jan Gruen of Newmeyer and Dillion LLP, has chaired the four previous Food and Gift Drives.
“It is very meaningful to help those less fortunate. We’ve seen the drive gain momentum each year. 2006 could be our best effort yet,” Gruen said.
With the smell of turkey still in the air, the holiday gifts began to pour in to the SHELTER, Inc.’s offices. The Adopt-A-Family program connects families with the community, ensuring that no SHELTER, Inc. family will be forgotten during the holiday season.
In addition to connecting the families with donors, Adopt-A-Family coordinates special events, outings and holiday parties. A collaboration between Bo McSwine, owner of Bo’s BBQ in Lafayette and Natalie Nicolson, a local Girl Scout working on her Gold Award is just one example. Together they put on a party for all of the children at our East County Family Transitional Center. With Natalie’s help every child created their very own gingerbread house. And Bo did a great job helping Santa to make sure they all received a present and got to sit on Santa’s lap.
The holidays would have still come, but without your help, they would not have been as bright and warm as they were for our families. “The outpouring of support is overwhelming, I wish we could extend Adopt-A-Family to a year-long program,” reported Resource Coordinator Theresita Ortiz.
Theresita manages the Adopt-A-Family program as well as coordinates all of SHELTER, Inc.’s volunteer activities and in-kind donations. To find out how you can be involved, you can contact Theresita at theresitao@shelterincofccc.org or via phone at 925-957-7561.