EDITORIAL: Give locally with the Holiday Fund EDITORIAL: Give locally with the Holiday Fund (November 23, 2005)

Despite the slightly quicker pace of the Silicon Valley economy, many local residents are left out in the cold, forced to seek help from the small safety net of nonprofit agencies that offer food, shelter and other assistance to those in need.

These people are our neighbors, and they deserve our help. And one of the best ways for Almanac readers to pitch in is by contributing to the Holiday Fund, which provides grants to 10 local nonprofit agencies. These are the organizations that can provide a hot meal, offer a family a temporary home, arrange health care or the important counseling that can bring an end to the substance abuse that can cripple families and young children.

Through the Holiday Fund, the Almanac and its partner, the Peninsula Community Foundation, have been able to raise $2.3 million over the last 12 years, all of it for local social service agencies. More than half, $1.22 million, has come from Almanac readers, and the rest from generous individuals and foundations that have contributed matching funds every year. Last year, $160,000 from readers and matching grants was distributed to 10 local nonprofits.

This year local agencies are understandably worried that the unprecedented need for aid brought on by the south coast hurricanes, the South Asian tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake will make fundraising particularly difficult. That is why we urge Almanac readers to not forget their Midpeninsula neighbors, whose needs are just as critical today as in other years. (The donation coupon is printed elsewhere in this edition.)

This year the Holiday Fund is once again receiving generous matching grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Rotary Club of Menlo Park Foundation. To the extent possible, all donations to the Holiday Fund will be matched. And thanks to the Peninsula Community Foundation, no administrative costs or fees are deducted from Holiday Fund gifts.

Here are the organizations that will benefit from this year's Holiday Fund:

** Belle Haven Community Library

Serves Menlo Park's Belle Haven neighborhood, with a focus on English language instruction and tutoring for families.

** Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula

Provides after-school support and activities for 2,300 young people, ages 6 to 18, at clubhouses in Belle Haven, East Palo Alto and Redwood City, and a center at Flood School in Menlo Park.

** Mid-Peninsula Girls Club

Provides a safe and enriching environment for more than 200 girls 6-14 in Belle Haven and East Palo Alto.

** Ravenswood Family Health Center

Provides affordable primary and preventive health care to some 11,000 people, mostly from the medically underserved communities of Belle Haven, East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks.

** St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room

Serves hundreds of hot meals six days a week to people in need who walk through the doors.

** St. Francis Center

Serves some 500 poor, mostly Latino, families in the North Fair Oaks area with food, clothing, showers, laundry, low-income apartments, a community garden, and a school.

** Second Harvest Food Bank

The largest collector and distributor of food on the Peninsula, Second Harvest distributed 28 million pounds of food last year.

** Shelter Network

Provides short- and long-term transitional housing and services to more than 1,000 homeless people -- including children -- each year.

** Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition

Provides educational programs for youth and adults to help teens make healthy choices that will result in lower rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

** Youth and Family Enrichment Services

Provides services to help runaway and homeless youth, and troubled families struggling with substance abuse, domestic violence, and issues involving mental health, relationships and communications.

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