Each year the The Almanac Holiday Fund raises money to support programs serving families and children in the Menlo Park area. Read on for profiles of grant recipients, to be featured each week over the holiday season, highlighting the way each organization has used the funds this past year.
Checks totaling more than $300,000 were handed out to representatives of 10 non-profit organizations.
Upward Scholars has helped over 1,200 adult immigrants in the Bay Area pursue upward mobility through a community college education by providing them with financial and academic support, career development and holistic services. Every year, our wraparound ... [ Read More ] Posted Jan. 4, 2023
In this time of uncertainty, a fundamental truth gives us hope that we can do extraordinary things together. Over the past several years, the world has come together to stand up, help one another, give back, and heal. Whether through nonprofit donations, celebrating essential ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 25, 2022
Literacy Partners – Menlo Park (LPMP) completed the first full year of its expanded mission in July 2022, providing some $85,000 to local partner organizations to address a range of issues helping ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 20, 2022
After making the largest-ever donation to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and Almanac Holiday Fund in 2021 — $350,000 — an anonymous Silicon Valley philanthropist this week repeated the act of generosity. The philanthropist has given ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 17, 2022
For 35 years, St. Francis Center, in partnership with the community, has helped provide thousands of very low-income families in Redwood City with the essential services they need to live with dignity ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 16, 2022
Lucy is 16 years old and attends a public high school in San Mateo County. She moved to this county after her mother separated from her father one year ago. She lives full-time with her ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 9, 2022
A few months ago, after weeks of an unexplained 104-degree fever, an enlarged tonsil and stomach pain, 3-year-old Eliana came to Ravenswood Family Health Network and finally received ... [ Read More ] Posted Dec. 2, 2022
Lending a much-needed helping hand to those in crisis and strengthening our community have always been the aims of The Almanac Holiday Fund. The annual charitable giving drive is kicking ... [ Read More ] Posted Nov. 21, 2022
The Almanac Holiday Fund campaign to support local nonprofits that provide critical help to those in need is kicking off this week, with the aim of raising $200,000 — every ... [ Read More ] Posted Nov. 12, 2021
It's easy to label 2020 a year to forget, with nothing but heartbreak and hardship. But things are growing more positive with each day for Heilala and her family. She and her six family members were living in one bedroom of a friend's home. When the friend decided to ... [ Read More ] Posted December 3, 2020
Mornings at DayBreak, a transitional housing program in Redwood City, start with walking downstairs to say "good morning," a quick temperature check and cooking breakfast before logging onto an online class from the couch ... [ Read More ] Posted December 3, 2020
For the past eight months, local nonprofit organizations like East Palo Alto's Ecumenical Hunger Program have been scrambling to meet the needs of their clients. In ordinary times, Ecumenical Hunger Program staff would be hard at work to provide emergency food, clothing, furniture ... [ Read More ] Posted December 3, 2020
Jorge has been a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) since kindergarten and is typically shy and hesitant to take the spotlight. Last spring, when BGCP mentors encouraged him to present an eighth grade speech ... [ Read More ] Posted December 30, 2019
This holiday season, Ravenswood Family Health Center is among the 10 local nonprofits that will benefit from donations to The Almanac's Holiday Fund. With a clinic in East Palo Alto, the center provides primary medical services ... [ Read More ] Posted December 20, 2019
St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room has been providing a free meal in a safe, friendly place for 45 years. With welcoming hospitality, we ask no questions and turn no one away. We provided a remarkable 230,000 hot meals ... [ Read More ] Posted December 11, 2019
When Upward Scholars alumnus Amado came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2011, he started at zero. "I couldn't communicate in English. I didn't have a job. I didn't have any experience in this country," Amado says. His first job was working ... [ Read More ] Posted December 5, 2019
Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula
Provides after-school academic support, enrichment, and mentoring for 1,800 low-income K-12 youth at nine locations across Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and the North Fair Oaks neighborhood of Redwood City.
Ecumenical Hunger Program
Provides emergency food, clothing, household essentials, and sometimes financial assistance to families in need, regardless of religious preference, including Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for more than 2,000 households.
Fair Oaks Community Center
The Fair Oaks Community Center provides social services to the residents of the neighborhood, including programs for seniors, immigrants, renters and the unhoused, as well as housing assistance, ESL classes and child care.
LifeMoves
Provides shelter/housing and supportive services across 18 sites in Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. Serves thousands of homeless families and individuals annually on their path back to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.
Literacy Partners
Supports literacy programs and projects through fundraising and community awareness. Helps community members enhance their reading, writing and related skills and education to improve their economic, professional and personal wellbeing.
Ravenswood Family Health Center
Provides primary medical and preventive health care for all ages at its clinic in East Palo Alto. Of the more than 17,000 registered patients, most are low-income and uninsured and live in the ethnically diverse East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and North Fair Oaks areas.
St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room
Serves hundreds of hot meals six days a week to people in need who walk through the doors. Funded by voluntary contributions and community grants, St. Anthony's is the largest dining room for the needy between San Francisco and San Jose. It also offers take-home bags of food, as well as emergency food and clothing assistance.
Second Harvest Food Bank
Second Harvest Food Bank distributes nutritious food to low income individuals and families, leveraging every available food resource and collaborating with other organizations and people to feed the needy in the community.
StarVista
Serves more than 32,000 people throughout San Mateo County, including children, young people and families, with counseling, prevention, early intervention, education, and residential programs. StarVista also provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services including a 24-hour suicide crisis hotline, an alcohol and drug helpline, and a parent support hotline.
Upward Scholars
Upward Scholars empowers low-income adults by providing them with financial support, tutoring, and other assistance so they can continue their education, get higher-paying jobs, and serve as role models and advocates for their children.
As of November 29th, 37 donors have contributed $55,922 to the Holiday Fund.
* indicates amount withheld at donor's request
