We've Got Your Back

We've Got the Holiday Spirit

For the past few weeks, Giving Children Hope staff, donors, supporters, partners and volunteers have been working around the clock to gather and wrap presents for homeless children in Orange County. This week, all the hard work paid off as we began distribution to more than 3,000 kids in the Orange County School Districts.

Each child was asked to complete a wish list of items they would like for the holidays. Some of the most heartbreaking requests were received on this lists: a job for my dad, presents for my brothers and sisters, a Christmas Tree, a house for my family, and much more.

Though many of these requests couldn’t be met, GCHope and supporters worked hard to bring a little bit of joy into the lives of these children in need. Every child enrolled in We’ve Got Your Back, a weekend nutrition program that provides essential and nutritious meals and nutrition education to homeless children and their families each week, was given a present for the holidays. In addition to these presents, toys were also given to their siblings as well!

Thank you to the hundreds of donors, sponsors, volunteers and supporters who helped to make the holidays magical and bright for the needy community in Orange County. We could not have done it without you and Christmas wouldn’t be the same to these families without all of your help. We are very grateful for your support!

See a video of the distribution “here”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL2ytpauoSA

2011.12.23 by Holly Johns

Dhont Family Foundation Matching Grant Challenge!

The wonderful family at the Dhont Family Foundation just offered Giving Children Hope a $30,000 matching grant for We’ve Got Your Back!

We need your help! You have the unique opportunity to double your impact and feed more homeless children in Orange County! We need to raise $30,000 to help us receive the matching grant!

Make sure you make your online donation at www.wgyb.org in order to double your donation. Your support will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by the Dhont Family Foundation!

For the last two years you helped us match Dhont’s $25,000 matching grant challenges and we know we can meet this goal together, too.

In total, Dhont donated $65,000 to We’ve Got Your Back! Giving Children Hope is grateful to the Dhont Family Foundation for their contribution and dedication to Orange County’s homeless children.

We’ve Got Your Back is our weekend nutrition program created by Giving Children hope for elementary students in the Orange Unified School District who have been identified as “homeless” under the McKinney-Vento act.

The Dhont Family Foundation was founded in 1998 and helps fund local projects in Southern California.

1969.12.31 by Holly Johns

2011 Toy Drive to Benefit WGYB!

This holiday season, we are giving toys to the kids enrolled in our We’ve Got Your Back program and we need your help!

There are a number of ways for you to be involved: 1) You can host a toy drive to collect new and unwrapped toys; 2) You can sponsor a wish list of a child. All items will be under $25; 3) You can participate in one of our Wrapping Parties. The dates for these are Monday 12/12 6-9pm, Tuesday 12/13 1-4pm, Wednesday 12/14 1-4 pm and Thursday 12/15 6-9pm.

All of this will take place at the Giving Children Hope facility: 8332 Commonwealth Ave. Buena Park, CA 90621.

To sign up for any of these opportunities or for additional information, please contact Drew Bryson or call the offices at 714-523-4454 ×113.

2011.10.21 by Holly Johns

Paying it Forward

Last Tuesday it was announced on ABC channel 7 that Giving Children Hope was selected as a winner of $7,000 in the Pay it Forward campaign! This grant money will help provide more than 6,000 meals to homeless children throughout Orange and Los Angeles county!

A big thanks to our wonderful partners at Buena Park Downtown , especially Patricia Neil and her fantastic team!

To see the full segment, or to read the story, done by ABC Channel 7 you can see it here !

2011.06.01 by Holly Johns

We've Got Your Back Launches in San Diego!

A few weeks ago, Shepherd’s Way, under Giving Children Hope’s guidance and partnership, began We’ve Got Your Back San Diego!

More than 13,000 children are identified as homeless in San Diego County and this program will help to provide backpacks filled with nutritious food each and every week.

GCHope is excited about this partnership and the expansion of the program. We traveled to San Diego for the first distribution date to sit down with the men and women running the program and to pick their brains about what WGYB-SD means to them.

Check out the photos from the first WGYB-SD school as well as the video with GCHope’s new program partners!

For more information about WGYB San Diego, please visit We’ve Got Your Back SD !

1969.12.31 by Holly Johns

Buena Park Downtown Pays It Forward...

…By nominating Giving Children Hope and We’ve Got Your Back for ABC channel 7’s Pay it Forward community campaign!

ABC 7 will select seven individuals to receive $7,000 with the idea that they will “Pay it Forward” by giving the money to a nonprofit organization who can make an impact in the community. The nomination process was simple: complete a short nomination form and submit a three-minute video about the nonprofit organization needing the funds.

Our friends at Buena Park Downtown created a video to nominate the We’ve Got Your Back program.

ABC 7’s Eyewitness News team, including Elex Michaelson featured above, was on-hand Thursday afternoon filming the WGYB area of the warehouse and preparing a segment to be featured May 23-25 at 4, 5, or 6 p.m.

Please tune in to ABC Channel 7, Monday – Wednesday between 4 and 6 p.m. to see GCHope as a contestant in the Pay it Forward Community Campaign!

Please also spread the word! Invite your church congregations, community service groups, prayer circles, families and friends to tune in and support GCHope! Keep us in your prayers and wish us luck!

Be sure to check out the nomination video submitted by Buena Park Downtown!

1969.12.31 by Holly Johns

The Impact of WGYB

1969.12.31 by Holly Johns

Local Principal praises We've Got Your Back

Last week one of our partners at Valencia Park Elementary School wrote Giving Children Hope to share their latest updates and progress due to the services received by We’ve Got Your Back. Included in this update was news of a major gain in their Academic Performance Index (API) which measures the student’s academic progress throughout each school. Read the update below:

“…I look forward to our continued partnership as it benefits the well-being of our our students and families. We experienced great success last year, a 54 point gain in our API and exit from Program Improvement status! When asked what this is due to, I can only reference the collaboration that exists between staff, students, families, the community at large, and partners like you. As we know, a hungry child cannot learn at the same rate as his non-hungry peers. Giving Children Hope feeds our children which allows us to feed their minds. On behalf of the Valencia Learning Community, I thank you for all you do!

Sincerely,
Emy Flores
Principal
Valencia Park Elementary School”

Giving Children Hope continued to provide food for the homeless children in the “We’ve Got Your Back” Program even during the summer break from school. We distributed weekly at a location in Huntington Beach, Buena Park, Anaheim, and Placentia and provided 9,510 meals for children suffering from chronic hunger and unstable living conditions. We were also able to enroll 233 more kids in our program!

At the start of the 2010-2011 school year, we are serving 1,000 children in 24 schools from eight different districts. We have five new schools joining our program so far, and our goal is to invite 10 more schools to participate. We are also aiming to provide backpacks full of nutritious food weekly for over 2,000 children by the end of the school year!

Thank you for your support in helping to make stories like this possible! Please continue to check for updates and curernt needs to further support the homeless children of Orange County!

2010.10.11 by Holly Johns

Expanding Program to Feed Homeless Children During the Summer

We’ve Got Your Back is preparing to launch its Summer Distribution Program to all homeless children enrolled in the program on June 25, 2010. During the summer these children are not served free meals provided through the Free and Reduced Lunch program by their elementary school. To bridge the gap of services in between school years, Giving Children Hope is expanding its services to these children with the help of our partners: Girls and Boys Club of Buena Park and Stanton, Fit 4 R Kids, and Baden-Powell Elementary School. Our partners are offering their facilities to serve as distribution sites to help us continue to bring food and nutrition education to these children and their families

To make all this happen, we definitely want you to step in and help! Join us for this unique opportunity to interact with the families you have already been serving. Instead of working behind the scenes, you will be at the distribution sites with us, organizing and helping us hand out bags to families.

We are looking for committed volunteers who will be able to work during one of the following shifts every week at these locations:

Boys and Girls Club
7758 Knott Ave, Buena Park, CA 90620
Every FRIDAY from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
June 25-August 20

Lord Baden-Powell Elementary
2911 W. Stonybrook Drive Anaheim, CA 92804
Every THURSDAY from 9-11 a.m.
July 1-August 26

We are looking for volunteers who are responsible, committed, and personable, since you will be interacting with many people during the shifts. You must be at least a senior in high school and able to work as a team.

If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity, please e-mail Ruth Sze. Send a short description about why you are interested and why you would be the ideal volunteer for this position. Please indicate which shift you are interested in working.

1969.12.31 by Harmony Trevino

Children Benefiting from WGYB

Schools have seen its students benefiting from We’ve Got Your Back, which regularly provides each child in the program enough food for the weekend.

Here are two letters from school site liaisons:

“One student in particular who has truly benefited is a third grade boy. His teacher mentioned that ever since he started participating in the program, he has had better focus in class and his homework is turned I regularly. When he received the donated gifts sent to him and his family at Christmas time, he was in complete shock and ran to show the presents to his teacher with tears in his eyes. Like many of our students here at Madison School, the Backpack Program has been a great support to our children and their families. Thank you for all you do!”

Alondra Cortez
K-6 Curriculum Coach, Madison

“Karina is a girl living with her grandparent and brother. Both her parents are deceased. Her grandmother currently rents a room for herself and grandchildren, paying rent off of her social security. Karina reported that her family is having a hard time meeting basic needs including food, clothes and personal hygiene items. A school social worker has been meeting with Karina for approximately six weeks. The social worker brought a food bag from the We Got Your Back program. Karina began to cry and hugged the social worker and reported not having enough resources for food. Thank you again for having this program to help our homeless students. It has made such an impact.”

Take Care,
Lori Glover, MSW
ACCESS Homeless Liaison

Thank you WGYB’s supporters who have been making a difference in the lives of children in Orange County!

2010.04.01 by Harmony Trevino

WGYB Update

We’ve Got Your Back has more than doubled the amount of children fed on the program! Currently we are feeding 710 students and we are planning to add more schools to the program.

In mid-February three schools were added to the program: Rio Vista, Melrose and Maxwell. We are now serving 19 elementary schools in Orange County!

In March, 24 students in Pyles, Centralia and Gilbert were added and are now being fed. We have also increased the maximum amount of students each school is allowed to have in the program. Several schools have not hit the maximum and are in process of adding more students.

Our goal is to help 1,000 students by the end of the year.

This all has been made possible by generous people who have donated their time and money to helping feed homeless children in Orange County! Thank you!

2010.03.31 by Harmony Trevino

Buena Park Downtown Helps WGYB Reach 1,000 Children

Buena Park Downtown (BPD) has been very generous in both donations and in community support to Giving Children Hope and our We’ve Got Your Back program. Their contributions will help us reach our goal of serving 1,000 homeless children by the end of the 2009-2010 school year!

Through BPD’s program, Brain Power Mania, their food drive has not only given us the opportunity to become recipients of donated provisions but has also aided us in bringing awareness to our local community concerning our homeless children. Brain Power Mania has brought together many elementary schools and people for one great cause which is to donate food to children hungry children in Orange County. This great effort brought in last year over eight pallets of donated food to our facility!

Since Brain Power Mania began, Buena Park Downtown has donated $138,250 to local schools. With this year’s contribution, that amount will grow to $152,750! Their monetary contribution of has allowed us to purchase 100 new backpacks! These backpacks are essential to our distribution of food every week.

Their support also allowed us to make new relations with AMP Radio which resulted in us being recipients of donated toys through their free concert. We received over 500 donated items such as toys, board games, DVDs and CDs. There were also 78 gift cards with the value of $798.50. As the We’ve Got Your Back program supports homeless children in our community, these are likely the only gifts that our kids received this past Christmas.

Thank you so much Patricia Neill, Marketing Director of Buena Park Downtown, for continued efforts in helping us bring an end to hunger in OC!

Don’t forget to continue to donate food at the Buena Park Mall at their costumer service center for more info visit here.

Thank you to the elementary schools which have collected food for us through the Buena Park Mall:

Beatty Elementary School
Corey Elementary School
Crescent Avenue Christian School
Danbrook Elementary School
Dysinger Elementary School
Emery Elementary School
Gilbert/Buena Park Elementary School
Hansen School Elementary School
Knott Elementary School
Marshall Elementary School
Maxwell Elementary School
Morris Elementary School
Schweitzer Elementary School
St. Pius V
Temple Elementary School

2010.03.25 by Harmony Trevino

A Teacher Weighs In

“A family of three siblings at our school site, Project Hope, were all given backpacks last week to take home and share with the family. Today, the middle child told me, “Ms Priscila, my mom says Thank You very much for the food!” I thought it was great to hear gratitude.

All four teachers at our school mentioned how great this program is and how excited the students were to be in this Weekend Nutrition Club. I had many children already asking me about their backpacks, I told them they would get to take it home today… they were very excited!”

Contact Elizabeth Saldaña by e-mail or at 714-523-4454 ext 30 to see how you can host a food drive for any of the schools involved in the We’ve Got Your Back program.

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino

Stories About Children and Their Families in the We’ve Got Your Back Program

Read the stories of the children and their families who are involved in the program, and see how your contribution has made the difference in people’s lives.

Jason

Erin

Carly

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino

How the Program Works

We’ve Got Your Back is a weekend nutrition program created by Giving Children Hope for students in the Orange County Unified School District who have been identified as homeless under the McKinney-Vento act.

These children also take part in the free and reduced lunch program at their schools. For most of these children, the school cafeteria is their primary source of nutrition. Many return home on Friday to a household without food. This is where Giving Children Hope and the Orange County Unified School District partner together to alleviate hunger among our children in Orange County.

Giving Children Hope distributes backpacks weekly to elementary schools. There, a site coordinator distributes each backpack confidentially to every student in the program. This continues throughout the entire school year. The program is presented to the children as a Weekend Nutrition Club, instead of the “We’ve Got Your Back” program. Our first priority is to maintain and uphold the dignity and self-esteem of the children. Students in the weekend nutrition club will receive a weekly activity sheet that will pertain to nutrition. This activity sheet is returned every week in each backpack and is the students’ responsibility. Children who return their activity sheets will be rewarded. With the assistance of a school site coordinator from your school, the distribution of backpacks and the collection of empty ones can be facilitated in a simple and time efficient manner.

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino