Date: The Month of February
Time: Morning, noon & Night!
Hosted By: CityServe of the Tri-Valley
Location: Tri-Valley
Address: Livermore, Pleasanton & Dublin
Details: Over 100 Community Members, Local NonProfits, Faith Groups, Youth Groups/Troops and more participated in our 2nd annual Compassion Month by providing (leading the way) with intentional acts of compassion all month long. Mark your calendars for next February 2023 you won’t want to miss out!
Project: Bags of Love!
Local Churches (Discovery, Celebration, St.Philip Lutheran, Graceway & Blazing Fire) joined in an effort to provide “Bags of Love” filled with family-sized toiletries such as shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, dish soap, deodorant, laundry soap and more! These bags were collected during the month of February and distributed by local volunteers during the St. Micheal’s Saturday, February 26th Food Distribution in Livermore.
Project: Serving Seniors
Baylight Church reached out and wanted to sponsor five of our senior clients by assisting with a home project, running errands or by delivering groceries. Our team Care Coordinators contacted their clients to see who would like to participate with Baylight. This beautiful and intentional act of compassion led to much needed support and lots of smiles! From senior pastor, “Compassion Month for us consisted of a pretty simple thing – purchasing and delivering groceries to some senior citizens in the Tri-Valley. Although the project wasn’t anything revolutionary, it made an impact on each of the individuals we met, and an even bigger impact on us. It showed us that there are people in this community who are lonely, physically limited, and in need of encouragement through simple acts of kindness. Even a few minutes spent with one gentleman showed us some other ways we could help him, and you could see his spirit change in a positive way during a few short moments together. All it took was spending some time with someone who may be overlooked by society, and in some cases, even overlooked by their own family. Although our goal was to help others this past weekend, which we believe did happen, we were the ones who were helped the most. There is nothing like serving others, and we are excited to do that here in the Bay Area.”
Project: Snack Packs to support the unsheltered community
Baylight Church members also collected snacks during the month of February and assembled 134 snack packs to be distributed by the CityServe outreach team members daily when meeting with unsheltered residents during rounds, at pop-ups or during ride alongs with the homeless liaison officers. We typically go through 20-30 packs per week and more in the summer. https://www.baylight.church/https://www.baylight.church/
Youth Project: Mission San Jose High School Fremont, CA Key Club
From mid January to mid February, MSJ Key Club and MSJ iKnit organized a “Scarves for Support” service event, in which members participated in a knitting introductory meeting, a virtual meeting, and a brief in-person lunch meeting, from which they were able to learn the basics of knitting a scarf. In the end, 21 scarves were completed, featuring both basic designs and unique twists, such as pom poms and alternating patterns. (MSJ = Mission San Jose High School)
My personal experience with knitting (leader): The beginning of the road was hard for me, and I struggled to poke the needles through my clumsy fingers and the tangled yarn. Luckily, in my opinion, the most beautiful part of knitting is its flexibility and ability to accomodate failure and numerous restarts, and so after failing a couple more times, I finally was able to find my pace and internal rhythm. Afterward, it was truly a relaxing process that brought me calm and filled my late afternoons with a cozy warmth.
Watching the group: Watching the group of people from all grade levels and genders gather together in the classroom to attend MSJ Key Club and iKnit’s introductory meeting, I was filled with gratification and joy that so many people were interested in knitting and were willing to take their time to help those less privileged. Later, when I collected all the scarves for donation, carrying those two large bags of hand knit scarves made me so proud of our members and their dedication to their community, especially since knitting itself takes many hours, and many members started from scratch and had to take the additional time to learn the skill as well.
Compassion Project: Food Distribution RCCG Graceland International Church
Church members and local volunteers joined to serve over 100 families with fresh produce, staple groceries and amenities during Compassion Month. They also continue to serve the Tri-Valley community on the third Saturday of every month!
Compassion Project: Heritage Estate Residents raise funds for CityServe to help with local needs!
Here are a few of their Compassion Month Fundraisers:
1. Empty bowl luncheon – 24 residents paid ($20.00) to attend a special soup lunch. The chef made bread bowls and two specialty soups.
2. Chili Cook Off luncheon – 24 residents paid ($20.00) to be the judges of 5 pots of chili made by an one employee from each department at Heritage.
3. Fitness leaders dedicated 30 minutes of exercise every day for the month of February. Tracked their minutes and gathered sponsors for support in raising money.
4. Drive up Cookie Sale – Chef made 400 cookies and the residents bagged 200 bags for the drive up cookie sale which generated $680.00 A raffle at the end of February with several gift baskets and gift cards donated by local business.
A BIG thank you to all the residents that participated!! Your investment into the community will have great impact!
Compassion Project: Comfort Bags
Ladies from the Dublin/San Ramon Women’s club collected and assembled 12 comfort bags that included caring items to support families and individuals that have been impacted by Covid and/or illness.
Youth Project: Discovery Church Youth Group Assembles School Kits for those in need
The youth group assembled 19 complete kits to be given to families with children in need. They also gathered extra supplies to supplement! We are working with local school social workers to identified families to distribute these fantastic kits to!
Compassion Project: Discovery Church FREE Breakfast Program
Discovery Church members and community volunteers prepared over 100 delicious breakfast boxes for families and individuals in need. They offer this incredible service on Sundays at 9-9:45am for the community. http://www.discovery-livermore.com/
Another Successful Compassion Month! Thank you to all who participated this year.
Mark your calendar now for February 2023 Compassion Month. Submit your projects in January and find ways to serve in February. For ways to serve all year long–check out our website frequently to add or find opportunities to serve your surrounding community!
CURRENT CARE STATS
Care Coordination
Clients Served: 1/1/22-3/10/22
LIVERMORE
194 Households in Care Coordination (475 w/fam)
Prevention (at risk of being homeless)=96
Intervention (Unsheltered)= 98
Crisis Calls/Outreach Interactions = 689
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Pleasanton: Total 91 households in Care Coordination (338 w/fam)
Prevention (at risk of being homeless): 82
Intervention (Unsheltered): 9
Crisis Calls/Outreach Interactions = 209
DUBLIN
Total 65 Households in Care Coordination (200 w/fam)
Prevention (at risk of being homeless): 61
Intervention (Unsheltered): 4
Crisis Calls/Outreach Interactions = 145
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Total Tri-Valley Households (including surrounding cities)
in Care Coordination (Case Management)= 509 (1499 total residents)
Total Crisis Calls/Outreach Interactions Tri-Valley & Beyond= 1369