Feel good stories and more!
Newsletter September 17, 2024
The Pets You Saved
Clarification of Agency Donations
Help and Items Needed
Next Potluck
Projects Updates
Update on Funds Received
Where the Money Went
The Pets You Saved!
We recently partnered with C.A.R.E.4Paws/ Animals in Need. Here are Garfield, the Cat and Trigger, the dog. Both animals were destined to be euthanized as the owners couldn’t afford the cost of veterinary care. Your donations and some very creative care from the vets and the agency helped these pets stay with their families. The full stories are in the “Where Did the Money Go” section below!
Clarification of Agency Donations
CLARIFICATION
Recently, an agency we support published information that we were supporting them at a guaranteed level of funding per year. This is simply not true. We determine funding on a month to month basis, based on need and availability of funds. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to guarantee funding to any agency as we are wholly dependent on the kindness, generosity and timing of donations from our donors.
Help Needed – contact us at sslocwomenade@gmail.com
Adopt an Elementary School for Weekend Food Bags – thank you to so many people who have stepped up to adopt an Elementary School for Weekend Food Bags. We are now able to continue our program for our schools from last year.There are still a couple of additional schools who are in need.
A project leader for a diaper drive
Items needed
A family in need of a refrigerator
A family in need of a gas dryer
A student in need of a bicycle for transportation to school
Toilet paper
Diapers
Pack n Plays
Cooking Oil
Laundry detergent
Next Potluck – Mark your Calendars
This Thursday, September 19th at 6PM
at Lola Zybura's home at 2367 Brant St. Arroyo Grande
AND
Wednesday, October 30th at 6PM at Candace Guldeman’s home
524 Mesa View Drive, Arroyo Grande on the Mesa
Mark your calendars!
Projects updates
We Love Educators Volunteers for Teachers - To provide LMUSD educators with hands-on volunteer help in the classroom. Lisa Arakaki – project leader
Thank you to the people who have signed up to volunteer for teachers! School has started and once the teachers get to know their students, we would love to be able to assist in more classrooms. Lisa Arakaki has developed the form below that you can fill out and it will go to her.
School Volunteer: Volunteers can fall into one of three categories, those being: single event, short-term, or long-term; and one of two student contact categories: limited contact or substantial contact.
You don’t have to be an educator (although that can be very helpful). We need both former educators and lay people to volunteer. You can specify what you’re comfortable doing. Teachers work with volunteers to get the best fit. Duties the past two years included:
Leading small learning groups – reading, writing and math
Helping with letters, numbers and phonics
Leading and supporting art lessons
Assisting with physical education units
Guiding individual students
Laundry Pop-Up – Belinda Benassi
The next Laundry Pop-Up will take place on Saturday, September 21st at 119 S. 13th.,
Grover Beach, CA 93420, Hours: 10 am - 12 pm. Each month we only need about 3 volunteers. Belinda Benassi leads this program and could use a few more volunteers.
To offer opportunities for volunteers to sign up in advance for the event site and dates of their choosing Belinda put together this Sign-Up Genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B44AEA82DAAF9C52-50105745-2024.
Nipomo Food Distribution – Rosemary Cleaves, Sue McCutcheon, and Mary Anne Morgan - project leaders
The September Food distribution was on Tuesday September 10th at the Nipomo Elementary School (always the second Tuesday of the month). We gave food to 346 families, and fortunately we didn’t run out this time! A number of our substitute volunteers joined our regular team, as a number of our regular volunteers were away or ill, and all went smoothly. We work with the SLO FoodBank and Nipomo Elementary School to make the Food Distribution happen. Thank you SLO Foodbank and all our fabulous volunteers! Let us know if you want to be on the substitute list.
The next food distribution will be Tuesday, October 8th, 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
In Kind Receipt
Please complete and submit the in-kind receipt to help us track how much you are contributing in donor offered items: This is a jpeg that you can copy, paste and print.
UPDATE ON FUNDS RECEIVED
8/1//24 TO 8/31/24 $10,949.04
1/1/24 TO 8/31/24 $97,962.27
2/1/2019 TO 8/31/24 $596,452.65
Thank you to our August donors!
Susan Sanders, Patti Reed, Linda and Bradley Wilbert, Fran Norris, Mary Mitchel-Baker, Rosemary Cleaves, Pat Wiemers, Linda Busek, Marilyn Mullany, Fred Donati, Sheila and Richard Semana, Karen Kolba, Patti Wasemiller, Joann and Stan Benson, Sandy Richardson, Olive and Mike Shu, Cory Gonzalez, Wendy Castleman, Marcy Warkentin, Nicole McLeod, Mary Anne Morgan and Madeline Fay, Diana Henderson, Gail Applegate, Nan Fowler, Carol Chenot, Susan McCutcheon, Caity McCardell, Jean Graham, Lisa Arakaki, Michelle Berlin, Connie Marangi, Andrea Chavez, Dana Robertson, Anita Shower, Jessica Griffiths, Cynthia Peters, Debra Jackson, Piper Adelman, Kathy Forenza, Paypal Giving Fund
WHERE THE MONEY WENT
Casa Solana – Renée Poirier – Executive Director
Casa Solana was able to provide a gift bed to a woman who is a burn survivor and has been homeless and struggling with alcohol addiction $800
Nipomo Family Resource Center – Advocate TBD
Weekly Food bags $27.20 SLO Foodbank
Single mother of four daughters in need of assistance with gas bill. $300 Gas Company
Single parent working a part time job in order to meet her children’s needs. She is seeking new employment because rent has been increased. Needs support with rent this month. $200 Roosevelt Family Apartments (landlord)
Family of 6. Father lost income due to illness which has negatively impacted their income and budget. Family needs hygiene products. Size 6 diapers, wipes, and food. $100 Walmart
Oceano Family Resource Center – Advocate Stella Medina
Family of 5 --father lost his job. He applied for EDD but has not received payments. Family really struggling on one income. Children grew out of clothes over the summer. Ross $200 for school clothes. Ross
Great Grandmother raising her nonverbal, autistic grandson. She receives no financial support from his mother. She needs support with water bill payment to avoid disconnection. $124.55 Oceano Community Service District
Single dad raising a son, his income was reduced this month, in need of groceries. Aldi $100
Single dad raising a son, his income was reduced this month, in need of groceries. Aldi $100
Custody issues, Mother had to hire an attorney to assist her with legal documents. This has significantly impacted her monthly budget. Needs Food. Aldi $100
Single mother of 3 children. Mom lost her job on 7/19. She applied for unemployment but the process takes several weeks. Needs help with Sept rent. $300 Era Management Co Inc (landlord)
Client took time off from work to bond with her niece that she is now the primary caregiver.She has applied for family paid leave but the process is taking a long time.In need of rental assistance for Sept. $300 750 Grande Associates (landlord)
Single father raising his son without any child support from his mother. He lost his business and is working part time until he can find other employment. In need of utility assistance. $200 Gas Company
Arroyo Grande Family Resource Center – Cinthyia Ortiz-Corona
Single parent recently changed jobs. Requested support with back to school clothing for kids. She is still catching up with home expenses this month. $100 Ross
Single parent asked to vacate transitional housing. Requested support w/ cleaning supplies. $23.03 Amazon
Single mother struggling with car insurance payment due to ongoing eviction process. Requested help w/ August Statement.$22.02 Dairyland Insurance
Single father currently in between jobs. Requested support w/ gas to transport daughter to school. Family is homeless and nighttime residence changes daily.$50 Chevron
Single father struggling financially since changing employment. Needed support with back to school clothing for his two boys.$111.98 Amazon
Nutrition Team – Mary Anne Morgan leader
Food for food distributions at Nipomo Elementary School and Lopez High School Food Pantry $385.04
5 Cities Homeless Coalition – Janna Nichols Executive Director
Client recently housed after couch surfing for several years was seeking assistance with her water bill. She received a shut off notice after she lost hours at work due to illness and fell behind on utility payments. 5CHC was able to assist with this payment, refer her to additional resources to assist with another bill, and make sure she was still connected to low-income utilities. Client has since returned to work and is working on budgeting with her Case Manager. $260.15 Utility Assistance
Lopez High School – Keith Gledhill- Principal; Aurora Munoz – Admin
Spring field trip deposit $250
Wolf market supplies, for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, support students' behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. $175.26
Lopez High School Wolf Den – Heidi Boatman
Girls jeans (9) Pimplen patches $249.78 Marshalls
Guys black pants (3) $54.89 Walmart
Families in Transition – Wendy Bruse Coordinator of After School Programs, Deicy Trejo –
UY student needs RTA bus pass to travel from Grover to Nipomo. Grandmother cannot always take him and he wants to be more independent. $37 RTA bus pass
High school student has been tardy every day since the start of school. Household only has one car and mom has to get to work early. Grandmother also cannot drive anymore. Student requested bike to use as transportation. $137.50 Bike, lock and helmet
Pregnancy and Parenting Support – Cami Statler Executive director
No expenses this month
Lumina Alliance – Heather Mullin, Development Director
Abuser disconnected her phone so she would not have communication with her mom, mental health, or job. Lumina paid for a new phone and pre-paid plan $84.87 Verizon
Abuser was arrested and client was left with all of the bills he was responsible for. When she reached out to PG&E she was made aware that abuser had stopped paying for 3 months $256.26 PG&E
Mission Hope – Katie Crafton – Oncology Social Worker
Woman in 40’s with recurrent breast cancer having to travel out of the area to Fresno for medical appointments and not able to afford gas. $50 Gas
Man in 60’s traveling to Stanford for multiple classes and appointments without good family support. $75 transportation
Woman in 60’s with new diagnosis of breast cancer without work and needing to go to all of her appointments.$50 Gas
The Link – Advocates – Mesa Middle and Judkins Middle -Yuliana Molina; Paulding Middle - Fernando Alvarado
The family needs new school clothes for their child, FA and family agreed to offset a partial amount of the family’s energy bill so that it can be budgeted for new school clothes. The family had to choose between clothing for the school year or paying the energy bill, with the Womenade funds they can now avoid making that choice and support their child with new clothes for the school year. $500 Utilities
Mom is requesting assistance with a past due garbage bill. Mom is the only working parent. Dad is unable to work due to health issues. Mom was working fewer hours which is why she fell behind with bills. Her hours will start to increase. Meanwhile the family has gotten help from relatives for their expenses. But are still in need of help for this past due bill.$203.22 Waste Management
Mom is a single mom of 4. Family is new to the community. They are struggling financially. Mom is searching for employment. They are currently staying at a friend’s house in the living room. Mom is requesting help with covering the fees for both girls PE clothes which are $30 each with a total of $60 for both.
Single father struggling financially. Just had surgery for the 2nd time because of the first surgery went badly. He is not working; he is on disability with a monthly income of $920. Dad is requesting assistance with car registration fee of $154. He drives his student to and from school. $154 DMV
SLO County Office Of Education CSPP –(California Pre-School Programs) – Shannon Pimentel Program Coordinator
no expenses this month
Department of Social Services – Jannine Lambert – Division Manager
PT needs transportation to his Drug and Alcohol Appointment and has no transportation.$15 RTA Bus Pass
County Nurses – Meryl Castro – County Nurse Supervisor
Many Moms in need of diapers for babies 2 and under. Diapers collected at the potluck in July.
C.A.R.E.4Paws – Libby Williams-Cabral – area administrator
A family in Nipomo ended up at the Central Coast Pet ER with their 2yr old neutered kitty, Garfield, who was having a difficult time walking. Although he did not show evidence of being hit by a car, this is a possibility. Radiographs revealed he had 2 fractures at his pelvis. Based on the nature of these fractures (and the higher cost ($5,000+) of surgical correction), his ER doctor felt he could recover/heal ok with strict confinement and pain management. This will be a two-month journey for this family to see how he heals. Retaking xrays in a few months will let them know how the fractures are healing. The family had $100, a very nice woman at the Pet ER offered to help with $200 and then the family called C4P/AINF program to see how we could help. We paid the remaining balance ($289.41) using funds from the Womenade grant. $289.41 Central Coast Pet Emergency Clinic in AG
Low-income Grover Beach resident with cancer...her 7yr old dog presented with lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea. Was seen/treated at VCA Arroyo Grande. She was only able to afford $100 herself but the cost of the recommended diagnostics alone was over $500. Trigger was diagnosed with pancreatitis and results also showed elevated kidney levels. We were limited to helping with the diagnostics and medications. Multiple day hospitalization on IV fluids was beyond our current funding abilities, so in addition to the prescribed medications, I visited the family's home to administer subcutaneous fluids as a minimal supportive measure. I also gave a tutorial so they could continue with daily SQ fluids on their own. Per the vet, SQ fluids was the next best option if they could not financially afford hospitalization and IV fluid therapy. So far, Trigger is slowly showing signs of improvement. (we sponsored $106 additional, beyond the $500 from the Womenade grant) $500 Arroyo Grande VCA
People’s Self Help Housing – Joanna Domínguez - Director of Resource Development
Resident is in the process of separating from her husband. She needs to put money towards her next housing. She is unclear what support her husband will give towards expenses of gas and food. She has not used FS in the past and is in the qualifying process. She also needs to take Children from S. County to school $300 Valero and Ralphs
Client is a single mother of 2 teenage kids. She recently was sent home for testing positive for Covid and was without work for a full week. This has affected her income. She is the only provider. Both kids are still in high school. Client is asking for assistance with gas, food, home cleaning supplies and hygiene products. If assisted this mother will be able to keep her children without hunger, clean and moving to all their daily activities $500 Valero, Walmart, Ralphs
Client's power is shut off. Client was previously homeless prior to moving in and he is still adjusting to new responsibilities and needs. At this time he does not have his ID and is unable to apply for HEAP. $210.31 PG&E
Client has his electricity shut off. This worker had incorrect total amount needed for his power to be turned on. Called PGE with client and they confirmed previous payment and stated $96.65 plus $1.35 fee for credit charge is needed to turn power back on.$98 PG&E
HOW TO DONATE:
To make a donation write a check to South SLO County Womenade and mail to:
Our bank asked that checks be made out with the full legal name on the account.
South SLO County Womenade, 1793 Farroll Rd., Grover Beach, CA 93433. We encourage you to become one of our monthly or regular donors. This can be easily done through your bank or charitable foundation. Please remember that if your company has a matching grants program to include us. As you make or update your wills, please consider adding a legacy gift to us for our future sustainability.
or go to our website sslocw.org
or venmo sslocwomenade
Our email is: sslocwomenade@gmail.com
Our website is: sslocw.org
Our EIN# 27-0809744
Phone number: (805) 270-5751
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