Survival to success - Father Joe's Villages

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Toussaint Academy of the Arts and Sciences Special to VILLAGE NEWS TAAS staff and their Japanese colleagues in front of the Guardian of the Water statue in Yokohama. The statue was a gift from the City of San Diego in 1960 and faces southeast, toward America’s Finest City. we got all the 411 on sexually transmitted diseases. After we finished, we chose to get a bus pass to save money because our apartment was conveniently located near the trolley station. Finally, we purchased food for our apartment and ran back to the courtyard. We were positive that we had won because we got back first! Village News, spring 2008 13 Teens learn life skills at scavenger hunt life is easy, the process hard a win-win situation By eric Paul member of our group made notes and we even had a schedule we had to follow. The first thing we did was get a college application and a scholarship application. During the hunt, Red Team won By Orlanda V. The It’s All the mock scholarship of $20,000, The Life Skills About the Kids enough to pay for our entire Scavenger Foundation set school tuition and books. Then Hunt was very up its annual we got a job as a retailer at Macy’s informative L i f e S k i l l s Eric Paul making a good wage. We rented about life skills Orlanda V. Scavenger Hunt an apartment with a couple, which that all youth in January at Toussaint Academy saved us enough money to be able should know about when entering of the Arts and Sciences (TAAS). to buy a good amount of food and adulthood and college life. And it For the past four years, Angela – pardon the pun – a killer health was fun at the same time. This day Brannon’s foundation has helped insurance plan. We went to our was made possible by volunteers the teens of Toussaint Academy health class and received a perfect and support from downtown learn about the real world through score on the test. Rotoract Club, First Union Credit the program. Stations were set up After the three hours of learning Union, Torrey Pines Bank and at TAAS that represented many how to be productive citizens Angela Brannon’s It’s About the different processes that you must in society, we enjoyed a party Kids Foundation. know when you head out into the hosted by Angela at Pierre’s Place. I learned that everybody, world, such as applying for college, Unfortunately, Red Team did no matter what their financial going on job interviews, dealing not win. But we felt like winners status, can afford to go to college. with banks, communicating with because we learned what we needed We got in to college through cell phone companies, navigating to know to take on the world. scholarships, and there are the utilities office, and some new I was so proud of my team. always other loans if necessary. additions like a health class, health That is what truly matters, not We then went to the bank to open insurance and others. some prize. The real prize is the an account and learned how to This year I was team captain of knowledge that we learned, at that manage a check book. From there the Red Team with Jessica A. I is what matters. we learned what information is was teamed with a great team. We inside a renter’s contract. Then, never panicked and we made sure Eric Paul is a graduate of Toussaint we went to get health insurance we did everything we could. One Academy of the Arts and Sciences. and attended a health class where FAST FACTS Toussaint academy of the arts and sciences (Taas) is a residence and high school for homeless teens in downtown san Diego. Taas helps young people to gain the skills they need to become successful adults who will contribute to the life of our community. The program’s continuum of care includes alumni services to assist graduates in completing a college education. Cultural exchange trip to Yokohama By Rick Newmyer Konichiwa! This was just one of the many Japanese words I surely butchered during my visit to the land of the rising sun. In February, I had the incredible fortune of traveling to Yokohama, Japan, along with five of my staff from Toussaint Academy of the Arts and Sciences. The purpose of our visit was to participate in a cultural exchange between Yokohama and San Diego. As vicepresident of the Sister City Society, Jose Gonzalez, executive assistant to Father Joe Carroll, came along as a host and guide. Over the course of six days, we visited nonprofit organizations and exchanged ideas regarding youth issues and service strategies. We also met with the mayor of Yokohama and presented our service model at a citywide symposium. The similarities and differences between Yokohama and San Diego are striking. On the one hand, we are both port cities on the Pacific Ocean, major centers for biotechnology, and information technology. And both cities are two hours from Disneyland! On the other hand, San Diego has incredible ethnic diversity and one in every five citizens is foreignborn. Yokohama is extremely homogenous with a population that is 99 percent Japanese. Even so, the face of Japanese society is changing as immigration is on the rise and young people, in particular, are struggling with the changes. Continued on page 16 However, when they announced the winners my group didn’t even make the top three. Apparently, we forgot to go to the SDG&E station, so none of the appliances for our apartment worked. Orlanda V. is a student at Toussaint Academy of the Arts and Sciences. Special to VILLAGE NEWS Angela Brannon, center, from It’s All About the Kids Foundation, put on the life skills scavenger hunt. From left are Kristen Anders, adolescent residential counselor; and TAAS residents, De’Zaree, Aaron, Stephen and Nicole.
14 By Angela Bull VILLAGE NEWS, Spring 2008 Neighbors Helping Neighbors FAST CECO expands funding; children, families bene t e Village Family Health Center at St.Vincent de Paul Village has been a grateful recipient of multiple grant awards from the San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO). In years past, each award has been humbly received by Father Joe at CECO’s breakfast ceremony, and then passed on to help those in need of healthcare. is year, CECO expanded its generosity to San Diego’s neighbors in need and funded three additional Village programs: Toussaint Academy of the Arts and Sciences (TAAS), the Children’s Services program, and the Family Living Center. TAAS will use its $5,000 CECO grant to help purchase art supplies for its enrichment program. Art allows teens to express themselves in a safe, healthy and creative way, which, according to Program Manager Cortni Phillips and Adolescent Residential Counselor Jodi Cilley, has been shown to decrease the drop-out rate and provide healthy coping skills for teens like those at Toussaint. Children’s Services will use its $5,000 grant to help support the cost of summer camp for children in the program. Without this additional funding, only about a third of the children would have been able to participate in a variety of exciting activities including outings to the museum, pool time, and even trips to Sea World and Disneyland. “My philosophy is that every child should go to Disneyland at least once,” said Program Manager Alma Hutcherson-Coba. Thank you, volunteers! Annually volunteers pitch in to help wherever they can throughout Father Joe’s Villages. ey paint, repair, plant, build, serve meals, stu envelopes, see patients, sort toys, help at events, and more. e thoughtful deeds and helpful hands of a cross section of the community – business and military groups, youth and church organizations, medical professionals and individuals – give true meaning to our motto: Neighbors Helping Neighbors®. To say thank you, and honor their time and talent, volunteers were feted on April 19 at an annual appreciation luncheon at St. Vincent de Paul Village. And the good deeds continue. Here are two young volunteers whose individual e orts are helping change, save and inspire lives. VILLAGE NEWS Patricia M. Walsh Madeline, above, and dancer Oliva Lentz, right. The power of one For her seventh birthday Madeleine decided she didn’t want any presents. Instead she had a party and invited her friends to make a contribution to Father Joe’s Villages. Madeline raised over $270, or enough to serve 125 hot nutritious meals to neighbors in need. A gift of dance Volunteering her time and talent, dancer Olivia Lenz did more than teach the basics of ballet and dance to children at St. Vincent de Paul Village, she helped raise their self-esteem. “Olivia is a wonderful role model to our children,” says Children’s Services Program Manager Alma Hutcherson- Coba. “Not only do the children know someone really cares, but also her class helped the children come out of their shells when they performed in the dance show to family friends.” Lenz came to the Village every Wednesday for nine weeks and taught resident children basic ballet and tap steps as well as the importance of stage make-up and costumes. Lenz also brought a snack and shared videos about dance, such as “Lord of the Dance” and “The Ballerina and Me.” As a hands-on activity, the children made their own dance props, including fairy wands. Compared with low-income housed children, homeless children experience more health problems, developmental delays, increased anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and lower educational achievement, says Hutcherson-Coba. “Because of Olivia’s involvement, hopefully there will be less this year.” FACTS Through the generosity of donors and the time and talent of volunteers, Father Joe’s Villages is fortunate to have a wide range of supporters who model our motto and who are truly Neighbors Helping Neighbors. In the meantime, these and other children in the Family Living Center will enjoy the fruits of another one of CECO’s grants to the Village, which provides $5,000 in support of nutritious and delicious meals to families there. e fourth grant gives $2,000 to the Village Family Health Center, which will use the funds for medical and dental supplies. As always, St. Vincent de Paul Village is grateful to CECO for its continued support of our programs and our neighbors in need. Angela Bull is the contract compliance manager for Father Joe’s Villages. Volunteering builds teams Many groups volunteer as part of team building. ese organizations were at the Village this spring lending a helping hand. On St. Patrick’s Day 15 members of the Navy’s Aviator Survival Training Center from Miramar MCAS came to the Village and scrapped old skid pads on stairwells and replaced them with new. e group also made new window screens. On March 17, 15 team members from the western division of Burger King served breakfast at the Joan Kroc Center and Paul Mirabile Center. e Valhalla High School baseball team showed up on March 28 to do a landscape project at the Village. e professionals from Meeting Sites Pro spent an evening with children at the Village coloring eggs, reading and holding a relay in celebration of Easter. On April 13, 100 teens from the Agency for Jewish Education helped make baskets for Mother’s Day, and sort toys for Santa’s workshop. By the numbers The tallies are in, and in 2007 volunteer hours at Father Joe’s Villages increased by 10,539 over the prior year. 10,000 – Number of people who fi lled more than 25,000 volunteer openings 120,613 – Total hours volunteers “worked” $2,455,680 – Dollar value of volunteer hours if they had been paid Rock Bottom hosts day of hospitality e Rock Bottom Foundation hosted its fourth annual Miracle Gathering in December to bene t families at St. Vincent de Paul Village. e team at Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery in the Gaslamp neighborhood of San Diego, in conjunction with a variety of community organizations and businesses, provided families who could not a ord the luxury of a restaurant a day of hospitality and celebration with a meal and gi s. Held two Sundays a er Christmas as a nal season celebration, the event helps prepare children for the second half of their school year. Each child received a eece jacket, a Payless ShoeSource gi card, school supplies and an ageappropriate toy or gi . Adults each received a eece jacket and toiletry packet. Diapers were also distributed as appropriate. All guests enjoyed a professional self- or family portrait to commemorate the special day. “We are proud of our partnership with Father Joe’s Villages for its work directly caring for those in need in the San Diego community,” says Angie Leach, national programs manager for the Rock Bottom Foundation. “Our mission speaks to positively impacting hunger in our communities and inspiring a culture of giving and volunteerism throughout Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc.” Additional community groups sponsoring the event were e Gaslamp Quarter Association, County of San Diego, Denric Entertainment, Sysco, Kris Houle Photography, community volunteers and Rock Bottom Restaurant sta . Volunteers welcomed Interested in volunteering? For general volunteer information, call 619.645.6411.
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